The clear front-runner for the presidency now carries the burden of a presumed victory.

[DonViejo]

Hillary Clinton’s Newest Challenge: Great Expectations

The clear front-runner for the presidency now carries the burden of a presumed victory.

By David Catanese | Senior Politics Writer Aug. 5, 2016, at 3:49 p.m.

Hillary Clinton's latest campaign fight is a battle against her own success.

Buoyed by Donald Trump's torrent of blunders and offenses, the Democratic nominee for president has galloped into a wide polling and Electoral College lead over her Republican rival, hardening the perception that she's on a relatively smooth path to victory in three months' time.

A week following the conclusion of both parties' national conventions, the former secretary of state looks more like a fortified front-runner than ever before. She's ahead of Trump by 15 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in Pennsylvania and 9 points in Michigan – all states the New York real estate mogul has said he hopes to carry.

In Florida, a state Trump almost certainly must win to have a chance at the White House, Clinton's lead is smaller – at 4 points – but stable. Nationally, the picture is just as strong for her. A McClatchy/Marist survey gave Clinton a 14-point advantage. Fox News came out of the field with a 9-point Clinton lead. Other outfits pegged her margin between 4 and 9 points. U.S. presidential elections are determined by which candidate reaches 270 electoral votes – allocated individually by state, based on population – but Democratic operative Mark Mellman notes that "in practice, one can't lose nationally by 10 or even 4 and win the Electoral College."

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http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-08-05/hillary-clintons-newest-challenge-great-expectations?src=usn_run2016