Hilary Clinton gains traction in Colorado as Trump falters

As her opponent continued to reel from one of the worst weeks of his campaign, Hillary Clinton touched down in Denver, Colorado, with an ample amount of schadenfreude.

In swing states, her campaign had just begun airing new ads pillorying Donald Trump for manufacturing Trump ties in China and other products overseas. In Denver, Mrs Clinton happened to pull up to a place called Knotty Tie Co, a local small business founded by a US military veteran, employs refugees, and, yes, makes its ties in the US.

“I really would like [Mr Trump] to explain why he paid Chinese workers to make Trump ties . . . instead of deciding to make those ties right here in Colorado,” Mrs Clinton told employees.

“If he wants to make America great again, he should start by making things in America. And there’s a lot he could learn by coming here.”

Rocky primary

After a rocky primary season, Mrs Clinton is having a moment, largely thanks to her opponent.

Two polls this week, from Fox and CNN, have shown Mrs Clinton ahead of Mr Trump nationally by 10 and 9 points respectively. In the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, a survey from Franklin & Marshall now showed Mrs Clinton ahead by 11 points.

Mrs Clinton’s ascent in the polls comes partially thanks to Mr Trump’s own missteps. In the Fox News poll, for example, 70 per cent of respondents said his recent comments about the parents of a Muslim-American soldier killed in combat were “out of bounds”.

Yet the Clinton campaign also appears to have been able to break new ground with white men and women, as well as millennials, and Bernie Sanders supporters.

In Boulder, Colorado, a Sanders-friendly hippie outpost, Paul Martinez (46) said most of his Sanders-loving friends had already come around to embracing Mrs Clinton, while Mr Trump’s stream of gaffes had made him more confident that he would lose.

Cathy Goodman, a 69-year-old child therapist in Boulder and a recent Clinton convert, said the Democratic convention had helped humanise Mrs Clinton. “I think she does have a heart and cares about people,” she said.

Mr Trump, she said, reminded her of some of her preadolescent patients with severe emotional problems. “I could diagnose him,” she deadpanned. “Narcissistic personality disorder.”

(– The Financial Times)