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Hillary Clinton Returns to the Campaign Trail Amid Health Questions Hillary Clinton Returns to the Campaign Trail, Vowing New Approach
(about 5 hours later)
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. GREENSBORO, N.C. — A rested Hillary Clinton returned to the campaign trail here on Thursday after three days of recovering at home from pneumonia, and vowed a different approach on the final stretch of the campaign, one more focused on her own positive vision for the country, rather than eviscerating her rival.
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.” “I want to close my campaign focused on opportunities for kids and fairness for families,” Mrs. Clinton said after her first rally of her renewed campaign. “I want to give Americans something to vote for, not just against.”
The shift in tone felt striking after Mrs. Clinton had spent months tearing town her Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump.
But with less than eight weeks until Election Day and tightening polls showing a majority of voters dislike and distrust her, aides said it was imperative that Mrs. Clinton deliver a more uplifting message.
“From now until Nov. 8, everywhere I go I’m going to talk about my ideas for our country,” Mrs. Clinton said. Next week, Mrs. Clinton plans speeches to discuss how she would help young people and improve the economy, weaving in her own background as an advocate for children and as a first lady focused on women and families.
That focus was central in her address here at the University of North Carolina, where she took the stage to James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good),” seeming rested and revived, eager to tell the audience that her rare couple of days of downtime allowed her to “reconnect with what this whole campaign is about.”
“I’m running for all mothers and fathers trying to stay healthy so they can be there for their kids, but perhaps most of all, I’m running for those kids,” she said. “Standing up for children has been the work of my life, as a lawyer for the Children’s Defense Fund, as first lady of Arkansas, in the White House.”
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.”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.”
“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.” Her return to the campaign trail comes as a series of polls suggest a closer race. Mrs. Clinton has faced a more disciplined Mr. Trump and scrutiny over her failure to initially disclose her pneumonia to all but a few close aides.
A New York Times/CBS News poll released on Thursday found her virtually tied with Mr. Trump among likely voters.
Asked about the narrowing gap with Mr. Trump on Thursday, Mrs. Clinton said, “I’ve always said this is going to be a tight race.”
On her campaign plane earlier Thursday, a peppy-sounding Mrs. Clinton said she felt fully recovered. “I am doing great,” she said before takeoff in White Plains, N.Y., as she made her way down the aisle.
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. And at her rally later, she reflected on her time recuperating.
“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.”
“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.”“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.”
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. Mrs. Clinton offered a rare public glimpse at her self-effacing humor, poking fun at herself for her plans that span “38 different policy areas.”
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. She said, “Like a lot of women, I have a tendency to overprepare.”
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.” Mrs. Clinton did not entirely avoid criticizing Mr. Trump, telling reporters after the event, “We don’t need someone who rushes out a half-baked plan just weeks before an election after decades of ignoring or putting down working moms.”
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. It was a reference to the child care proposals that Mr. Trump and his daughter Ivanka unveiled this week.
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. The Clinton campaign’s efforts to put forth a kinder, gentler candidate began last week with a speech that Mrs. Clinton delivered in Kansas City, Mo., on her Methodist faith.
Mrs. Clinton even seemed to look forward to hearing from reporters, saying she would answer questions after the rally. But the change in tactics hit an unexpected snag on Sunday when Mrs. Clinton abruptly left a ceremony to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
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. Amid intense scrutiny over Mrs. Clinton’s lack of transparency over her initial diagnosis, her physician, Dr. Lisa R. Bardack, later disclosed that Mrs. Clinton had been told she had pneumonia last Friday and that she had been overheated and dehydrated on Sunday.
“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. Rather than making her case to the American people, Mrs. Clinton found herself recovering at home as her campaign confronted a series of distractions and dueling doctors’ notes from her and Mr. Trump.
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. And she had to apologize on Saturday after a backlash over remarks she made at a Friday night fund-raiser in Manhattan in which she said that half of Mr. Trump’s supporters fell into a “basket of deplorables” — bigots, essentially, of one sort or the other.
Those efforts started last week with a speech about her Methodist faith, but were set back by her illness. On Thursday, Mrs. Clinton, when pressed about her handling of her diagnosis, appeared eager to put the rough patch behind her.
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). “I didn’t want to stop.” she told reporters. “I didn’t want to quit campaigning. I certainly didn’t want to miss the 9/11 memorial.”
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. “It didn’t work out,” she continued. “So I got the antibiotics up and going, got the rest I needed and we’re going on from there.”
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.”