GREENSBORO, North Carolina--Hillary Clinton got back on the campaign trail on Thursday after taking three days off for pneumonia, and the Democratic presidential candidate faced a more challenging political landscape, with Republican rival Donald Trump rising in opinion polls.
Senior Clinton aides said they always expected the race to the Nov. 8 election to be close. But it was clear from a raft of new polls that Trump had halted a summer swoon after taking steps to give a less freewheeling, more polished performance on the stump.
Clinton, 68, appeared in good health on a visit to her campaign plane's press cabin while flying to Greensboro, North Carolina, for a rally where she sought to refocus her campaign on the plight of the working class - which has turned out to be a potent theme for Trump. Leaving the stage to the tune of James Brown's "I feel good," Clinton told reporters she kept her pneumonia diagnosis last Friday quiet, telling only senior staff, because she thought she would be able to "power through" the illness and keep campaigning.
"From my perspective, I thought I was going to be fine and I thought that there was no reason to make a big fuss about it," she said.
On Sunday, Clinton nearly collapsed while leaving a ceremony marking the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York. Her illness coincided with a mini-surge by Trump, who has drawn even or taken a slight lead in national polls. Polls in battleground states where the race is likely to be decided showed Trump now leading in Iowa, Ohio, Florida and Nevada, and tied in North Carolina.
Following her appearance in North Carolina, Clinton was scheduled to appear at a Washington dinner. Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, said the candidate and her aides expected the contest to be close.
"We always expected the race to tighten up, we still feel like we're in a strong position with organizational advantage in Florida and Ohio," Podesta told reporters on Thursday. "They call these states battlegrounds for a reason."
In a speech at the New York Economic Club, Trump stuck to his script, avoiding the more improvisational style that has produced a cornucopia of controversies. Trump pushed a package of tax cuts he said would help power the U.S. economy to an annual growth rate of 3.5 percent.
The New York businessman said his goal would be 4 percent growth, a target originally championed by Republican primary rival Jeb Bush. Trump said the growth would generate 25 million new jobs.
His economic package resurrected a decades-old debate on whether tax cuts can generate sustainable growth. But the overarching impression left by his speech was one of Trump talking about substantive issues and avoiding the frivolous.
