According to Saturday’s poll, Trump’s fortunes rest on his core supporters, white men who lack a four-year college degree, an economically stressed and socially and politically conservative group.
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She has been focusing on his psychological profile, with a goal to get Trump to crack, to show that he can’t control himself and lacks the even-handed temperament a president needs.
The editorial – which will appear in print on Sunday, the day before the first presidential debate – emphasizes national security and cites Clinton’s experience as secretary of state in saying she is better qualified to shape USA foreign policy than her Republican challenger, Donald Trump. It calls her “one of the most tenacious politicians of her generation, whose willingness to study and correct course is rare in an age of unyielding partisanship”.
Reines was a press secretary for Clinton during her Senate tenure and one of her closest advisers as secretary of state. But Trump’s proposal focuses on students living in poverty, while the overwhelming majority of home-school families earn more than the federal poverty rate. It presents a major opportunity for them to appeal to voters who have yet to commit to a candidate after a mostly negative race in which Clinton and Trump have sought to brand each other as untrustworthy and risky for the country.
The race has closed from an 8-point Clinton lead in early August.
Her aides have said she has prepared for the debate at her suburban NY home and another location.
After Clinton invited billionaire owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, to watch the debate in the front row at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York, Trump chose to fire back.
“If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row”, Trump quipped on Twitter, “perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!” But this will be her first presidential debate against a candidate from an opposing party, which Democrats say will give her far more latitude in drawing a contrast and defending herself.
President Barack Obama publicly advised Mrs Clinton to “be yourself”.
She asked, “Is that really what your word is worth, Ted Cruz?” Mr. Reines is a combative political operative who is deeply loyal to Clinton.
People familiar with Clinton’s preparations say she has been working through answers to questions that hit at her lack of trustworthiness in the eyes of many Americans, a problem that has dogged her throughout the campaign.
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Her staffers John Podesta, Jake Sullivan and Huma Abedin have been present throughout, in addition to debate coaches Ron Klain and Karen Dunn, who are each helping oversee the process. She told Clinton campaign volunteers in Nashua, New Hampshire, that she never predicted a major presidential candidate would base a campaign on scapegoating Mexicans, women and Muslims.
