Will Melania Trump's rally speech help win over female doubters?
The address was aimed at casting her billionaire husband in a more positive light after the recent string of sex assault claims.
Friday 4 November 2016 06:56, UK
Donald Trump's campaign tried to spin his wife Melania's speech as a natural, un-calculated moment in this election race.
But it absolutely wasn't.
Mr Trump has a woman problem.
Mr Trump also has an immigrant problem.
Melania was the weapon they deployed hoping to solve those issues, just five days before America votes.
And actually, it was quite compelling.
To start with, it was given in a smart location - the suburbs of Philadelphia.
To win the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania, conventional wisdom dictates you need to win over the suburban women of Philly.
Mr Trump is after this state even though Hillary Clinton polls better here.
It is part of her 'great blue wall', a string of states that will protect her electoral college total and without which she will struggle to win on 8 November.
Melania's speech attempted to portray Mr Trump as a member of a close, loyal family.
It was geared at indirectly pushing back against the recent barrage of sexual assault allegations made against the Republican candidate, damaging his prospects with women, who make up just over half of the voting public.
And it was a chance for her to move on from the last time we heard from her at the Republican National Convention, where she delivered a speech that was in part plagiarised from Michelle Obama, of all people.
Of course there were cringe-worthy, Donald Trump-inflicted ironies.
The prospective First Lady described her ambitions should her husband win, namely to help make social media less rough and cruel.
It was lost on no-one that Mr Trump has presided over a no-holds-barred election race that has included throwing insults like they are going out of fashion.
But her biggest applause line was not anything to do with being a woman, a wife or a mother.
It was when she described with great pride how she became a US citizen.
Her story is a powerful message in a race where Trump is struggling to convince minority voters to support him.
That moment also perhaps allowed the American public to imagine a modern, diverse first family, in sharp contrast to the Clintons, who have of course already spent some time in the White House and who represent the Washington establishment.
Will Melania make a difference for her husband?
He hopes so.
Nearly a quarter of the country has already voted.
Ideas about the candidates are almost all 'baked in', as the saying goes, and there are a dwindling number of undecided voters.
Spouses can be powerful surrogates.
Just ask Barack Obama, whose wife is more popular than he is.