CLEVELAND: Rivals Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump sprinted out of the campaign blocks Monday to begin their two-month dash to the US presidential election, descending on Ohio as ground zero of their 2016 battle.
The candidates used Labor Day — the traditional launch of the home stretch of the presidential campaign — to push their arguments that they would be best for working-class Americans.
Democrat Clinton maintains an edge over Trump in national polls, has dramatically deeper ground operations in swing states, and trounced Trump in August fundraising.
But the Republican flagbearer’s unorthodox White House bid, including his campaign’s apparent imperviousness to criticism about his harsh rhetoric, assures a tight contest for the next 64 days.
“I’m not taking anybody, anywhere for granted,” Clinton told a crowd of more than 1,000 at a picnic in Cleveland.
Highlighting the intensity of the fight for battleground states like Ohio, Trump was already on the ground in Cleveland for his own campaign events when Clinton landed, their planes parking about two football fields apart on the tarmac.
“I’m ready. I’m more than ready,” she said of the intense two-month battle ahead as she attempts to become the first female US commander in chief.
