a turbulent presidential campaign was once again upended this week, leaving both republican donald trump and democrat hillary clinton scrambling to assess the political impact of the revelation that the federal bureau of investigation was reviewing fresh evidence in the case of mrs. clinton<u+2019>s private email setup. with just 10 days left in the campaign and millions of votes already cast, friday<u+2019>s announcement by fbi director james comey that the agency had discovered emails that may pertain to what had been a dormant investigation gave mr. trump renewed ammunition in the campaign, as he trails in the key swing-state polls and in fundraising. for mrs. clinton, it injected the issue of the investigation into possible mishandling of classified information back into the political bloodstream. her campaign has struggled to move beyond the issue since it was revealed that she used a private email server for her correspondence while serving as secretary of state between 2009 and 2013. steve elmendorf, a veteran of democratic presidential campaigns who backs mrs. clinton, said the email issue would energize supporters of both presidential campaigns. <u+201c>clinton needs to answer quickly and pivot back to her closing message,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>the danger for trump is he descends into <u+2018>lock her up<u+2019> chants and never delivers a closing message that appeals beyond his base.<u+201d> at a rally in golden, colo., on saturday, mr. trump took advantage of the revelation, painting it in the darkest terms, bolstered by chants from the boisterous crowd who repeatedly chanted <u+201c>lock her up!,<u+201d> referring to mrs. clinton. <u+201c>folks, we<u+2019>re living in a third-world country. this has never happened before. this is the lowest point in terms of our judicial system. this is the lowest point in the history of our country,<u+201d> mr. trump said about the fresh investigation. <u+201c>nobody in this room has more faith now. you have a lot less faith now,<u+201d> the gop nominee said. capital journal is wsj.com<u+2019>s home for election 2016 news. mrs. clinton addressed the issue later saturday during a campaign stop in daytona beach, fla., saying it was <u+201c>pretty strange<u+201d> for the fbi to put such news out with so little information right before an election. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s not just strange, it<u+2019>s unprecedented, and it<u+2019>s deeply troubling,<u+201d> she told a crowd of about 900. <u+201c>voters deserve to get full and complete facts.<u+201d> mrs. clinton sought to use the fbi review as a rallying point for her backers, telling the crowd mr. trump was distorting the issue and perpetuating fear among voters. <u+201c>he is doing his best to confuse, mislead and discourage the american people,<u+201d> she said of her opponent. <u+201c>we can<u+2019>t let him get away with this.<u+201d> before mr. comey<u+2019>s announcement, mrs. clinton<u+2019>s team had grown confident about its chances of winning the election, given a comfortable polling lead and promising signs of an apparent enthusiastic voter turnout for the democrats in early voting in several states. but on friday, her campaign was blindsided by the announcement, as was the white house, which didn<u+2019>t receive advanced notice that the fbi director had found fresh emails. meanwhile, republican strategists said mr. trump, who often strays from his central campaign message, needs to make the email controversy his primary theme in the closing days of the campaign. though many voters have already decided on whom to vote, the email issue could have some resonance among wavering supporters of mrs. clinton who might be inclined to switch votes to mr. trump, stay home or vote for a third-party candidate, gop officials say. <u+201c>he should do nothing else besides focus on this issue for the next 10 days. stop attacking [house speaker] paul ryan. stop tweeting at [fox news presenter] megyn kelly, <u+201d> said ryan williams, a republican communications consultant who worked on mitt romney <u+2019>s gop 2012 presidential campaign. at the moment, mr. trump is the middle of a late campaign push into territory not recently considered battlegrounds, even though he trails in must-win swing states such as florida and pennsylvania. this weekend, the republican standard-bearer was in the midst of a swing through such usually non-battleground states<u+2014>new mexico, arizona, colorado and michigan. recent state polls show mrs. clinton with comfortable leads in new mexico, colorado and michigan, which have all voted for the democratic presidential candidate in recent elections. after enduring the so-called october surprise on friday, mrs. clinton sought a reset on saturday, returning to the campaign trail to urge her supporters to head to the polls. she traveled to the pivotal state of florida, where she planned to campaign in daytona beach and appear at a concert with singer jennifer lopez in miami. <u+2018> clinton needs to answer quickly and pivot back to her closing message<u+2026>the danger for trump is he descends into <u+2018>lock her up<u+2019> chants and never delivers a closing message that appeals beyond his base. <u+2019> a clinton campaign official on saturday said the former secretary of state was in a <u+201c>good frame of mind<u+201d> following the emergence of the fbi investigation. mrs. clinton<u+2019>s advisers had previously predicted there would be another twist in the closing days of this campaign, the official said, adding, though, that an 11th-hour fbi investigation wasn<u+2019>t what they had expected. jim manley, a democratic strategist, said the fbi review is damaging because there is no longer an aura of inevitability surrounding the clinton campaign. some people who were reluctantly supporting mrs. clinton because they view mr. trump as dangerous now might stay home, he said. <u+201c>i still think she is going to win. people made up their minds about her a long time ago,<u+201d> mr. manley said. <u+201c>but unfortunately, she is going to have to finish her campaign just like she started it, with people questioning her credibility.<u+201d> john feehery, a republican strategist, predicted that undecided voters now <u+201c>will throw their hands up and either sit home or vote for trump.<u+201d> write to byron tau at byron.tau@wsj.com and colleen mccain nelson at colleen.nelson@wsj.com
fbi<u+2019>s revelations on hillary clinton email probe leave campaigns scrambling to react - wsj
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