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Hillary Clinton's campaign preaches calm amid FBI storm

Ohio: Democrats concerned about news that the FBI had reopened its investigation into Hillary Clinton's weekend suffered through a long weekend without polls telling them what to make of the bombshell. It takes a while to gather data.

On Monday morning at 5am David Plouffe sent out a steadying message via Twitter: Don't panic, don't wet the bed. 

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"Clinton path to 300+ rock solid. Structure of race not affected by Comey's reckless irresponsibility. Vote and volunteer, don't fret or wet," he wrote.

The "300+" he sites refers to the electoral college. A candidate must win 270 votes in the electoral college – reflecting the number and size of the states the candidate wins – to take the White House.  Mr Plouffe's view so far reflects most current modelling of the election, which notes a narrowing in the polls since the FBI news broke, but still suggests a distinct advantage for Mrs Clinton.

In Ohio later in the day, Mrs Clinton went on the attack, focusing on one of the key negatives her campaign has identified in Mr Trump, his perceived unfitness to serve as commander in chief.

"I am running against a man who says he doesn't understand why we can't use nuclear weapons," she said at a rally at Kent State University. "He actually said, 'Then why are we making them?' And he wants more countries to have nuclear weapons – Japan, South Korea, even Saudi Arabia – imagine nuclear weapons smack in the middle of the Middle East."

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She quoted the Republican hero, former president Ronald Reagan as saying that he feared "some fool" might inadvertently start a nuclear war.

"That has been the fear and the commitment of Democratic and Republican presidents since the dawn of the Atomic Age," she said. "So, what would he think about Donald Trump, who says he wants to be, and I quote, 'unpredictable' about using the most powerful weapons ever produced?"

Frontrunner: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Frontrunner: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Photo: Joe Raedle

In these dying days of the campaign the strategy of both candidates has to highlight the flaws in the other in what has become an almost entirely negative campaign.

Ohio is critical to the current campaign. It is not only a state that both parties believe they can win, but one that is seen as a bellwether for many battleground states. 

This is why the Republican Party held its nominating convention here earlier this year. But it has also proved a headache for Donald Trump.

John Kasich is Ohio's popular Republican governor and was also one of Mr Trump's opponents during the party's primary race. He is also a stubborn stalwart of the "Never Trump" faction of the Republican Party. He pointedly refused to attend Mr Trump's nomination in Cleveland in July, while greeting Republican guests at side events in the city.

And even as the Trump campaign sought to build on perceived momentum from the news of renewed FBI interest in Mrs Clinton he was causing the Trump machine headaches.

One of his spokesmen revealed on Monday that Mr Kasich had cast an early vote in the presidential election, instead "writing in" Senator John McCain, who was not on the ballot, and voting for – and donating to – other Republican candidates lower on the ticket.

Mr Kasich's refusal to support Mr Trump, or to give Mr Trump's campaign the support of his political network in the state, is one of the reasons why Mr Trump has failed to build a significant lead over Mrs Clinton in what should otherwise be considered a Republican state this election. A current average of polls in the state has him leading by just 1.5 per cent.

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