Both Candidates Suffer in the Spotlight

The Lid: “Entering the final week of the 2016 election — and, oh, what a long and strange road it’s been — there’s an unusual dynamic at play. Unlike most of the post-convention news cycles, Hillary Clinton has been the lead headline every day since Friday’s news of the FBI’s reexamination of the Clinton email investigation. Think about it: Most of the dominant August-September-October headlines centered on a Trump controversy: Trump’s ‘birther’ walkback, his rough first debate performance, Alicia Machado, Trump’s taxes, the Access Hollywood tape, the allegations of sexual assault against Trump, and his refusal to say if he’ll accept the results of the election.”

“With the exception of a few news pops related to the Wikileaks disclosures, the news spotlight hasn’t been this focused on Clinton since her bad week at the beginning of September (the ‘basket of deplorables’ comment and her pneumonia collapse.)”

“We’ve seen throughout this election that whichever candidate is in the front of voters’ minds tends to suffer, which explains why this week has been so bumpy for Clinton. And it’s a good reminder why Clinton is turning her closing argument from a positive message to a reprise of the greatest hits of her attacks against Trump.”