One last hurdle for Clinton

With a noticeable lead in nearly all the polls, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has only to avoid any major gaffes in tonight's debate or for the remaining 20 days if she wants to be elected, at least according to an assessment in this morning's Politico:

Can Clinton keep her head down?

Hillary Clinton’s favorite way to abuse a lead is to take her foot off the gas pedal and coast. This time, as the campaign confidently expands into red states with just three weeks to go, it’s a tendency her team actually wants her to indulge in the final, bitter face-off against Donald Trump.

The goal for Clinton, according to a longtime aide, is to make Trump “shadowbox” his way through the 90-minute session Wednesday night -- by keeping her head down and avoiding direct confrontation as he hurls personal and Wiki-related attacks in her direction...

Indeed, if her goal is to keep a low profile on the stage Wednesday night, it’s to raise it everywhere that matters in the following days. Over the next week, she plans to travel to major battlegrounds where Trump was leading just a few short weeks ago; she will be in Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Florida in the next week.

Avoiding confrontation may be the smart move, or it may backfire - it's not difficult to imagine Donald Trump leveling incendiary and unsettling charges, and by refusing to respond Clinton may give the impression she can't, or at least doesn't have an acceptable response. But charges by Trump against Clinton doesn't seem to have had all that much effect so far, and it seems unlikely tonight will be any different.