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Hillary Clinton Returns to the Campaign Trail Amid Health Questions Hillary Clinton Returns to the Campaign Trail Amid Health Questions
(about 9 hours later)
Hillary Clinton will return to the campaign trail on Thursday, following a three-day absence after she nearly collapsed at the World Trade Center memorial service amid a bout of pneumonia. GREENSBORO, N.C. — A rested Hillary Clinton returned to the campaign trail here on Thursday after three days of recovering at home from pneumonia, hoping to reassure supporters worried about her health.
Mrs. Clinton will appear in Greensboro, N.C., a day after her doctor released new details about her treatment over the last two weeks. Taking the stage to James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good),” Mrs. Clinton told an audience at the University of North Carolina here that she was glad to be back on the campaign trail after trying unsuccessfully to “power through it.”
The moment will allow Mrs. Clinton to attempt to reassure anyone with lingering questions about her health, and to try to get beyond an issue that has dominated the race all week. It will also allow her to resume focusing on coming debates against her Republican rival, Donald J. Trump. With just 54 days until the election, “sitting at home was pretty much the last place I wanted to be,” she said. But she called the time off “a gift.”
Mrs. Clinton’s team left an opening for her critics to question her level of transparency, a topic that has bedeviled her, when her aides said that she had left the ceremony because she had “overheated,” but that she was feeling better. They revealed the pneumonia diagnosis after a viral video was taken by one of Mrs. Clinton’s supporters, standing nearby, as she got into her van. “I talked with some old friends,” she said. “I spent time with our very sweet dogs. The campaign trail doesn’t really encourage reflection, and it’s important to sit with your thoughts every now and then, and that did help me reconnect with what this whole campaign is about.”
Mr. Trump’s aides have urged his supporters not to publicly discuss Mrs. Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis to avoid looking as if they are exploiting an unfortunate circumstance or being insensitive. “People like me, we’re lucky,” she added. “When I’m under the weather, I can afford to take a few days off. Millions of Americans can’t.”
It was Mr. Trump who broke the seal on that request on Wednesday night at a rally in Ohio, at which he expressed for concern for Mrs. Clinton but also noted that she was “lying in bed,” adding that he was standing through a hot event. “I don’t know folks, do you think Hillary would be able to stand up here for an hour?” said Mr. Trump, who spent much of the last year questioning Mrs. Clinton’s “stamina.” Facing tightening polls in the presidential race — a New York Times/CBS News poll released Thursday found her virtually tied with Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, among likely voters — Mrs. Clinton also faced a fresh imperative to shore up her appeal to skeptical voters, rather than simply tear down Mr. Trump.
The risk for Mr. Trump and Republicans who have repeatedly questioned the state of her health during the campaign is that of overstating the case, particularly if Mrs. Clinton recovers from her pneumonia and seems restored on the campaign trail and at the debates. Her return to the stump came after Mrs. Clinton spent the early part of the week recuperating from pneumonia, taking antibiotics and mostly resting up, apart from calling into the stray television show and fund-raiser.
Mrs. Clinton had initially continued her schedule after her illness was diagnosed last Friday. But on Sunday, she grew overheated and dehydrated at a 9/11 memorial ceremony in Manhattan, and was videotaped losing her footing and being helped into a van by Secret Service agents. On Wednesday, her campaign released a letter from her doctor saying Mrs. Clinton was “recovering well.”
On her campaign plane earlier Thursday, a peppy-sounding Mrs. Clinton gave no indication to the contrary. “I am doing great,” she said before takeoff in New York as she made her way down the aisle.
Wearing a multicolored jacket and gold bracelet, Mrs. Clinton flashed a wide smile at journalists studying her for signs of fatigue or illness and said she was looking forward to getting back into action.
Mrs. Clinton even seemed to look forward to hearing from reporters, saying she would answer questions after the rally.
With less than eight weeks until Election Day, her aides said it was critical that Mrs. Clinton begin to tell voters more about her own motivations, rather than simply continuing the onslaught against her opponent.
“She’s had a couple more days to reflect on running in this kind of race and wanting to very much focus attention on what she thinks the core of the campaign should be,” said Jennifer Palmieri, a campaign spokeswoman.
In the coming weeks, aides said, Mrs. Clinton will continue to weave her personal story into a series of speeches aimed at striking more uplifting themes and putting at ease the staggering number of voters who tell pollsters they dislike and distrust her.
Those efforts started last week with a speech about her Methodist faith, but were set back by her illness.
Asked how she relaxed while recuperating at home in Chappaqua, N.Y., Mrs. Clinton said that, no, she did not binge-watch “The Good Wife” (although she said she was “so sad” that the legal drama had ended).
But she said she was eagerly awaiting the return of another CBS drama: “‘Madam Secretary,’ however, is coming back,” she said of the show in which Tea Leoni plays a swashbuckling secretary of state.
Asked if the show was too “meta,” Mrs. Clinton responded: “I actually get a big kick out of it. They had some good, quasi-realistic story lines.”