hillary clinton, accompanied by her daughter chelsea clinton, right, and actress elizabeth banks, attends a town hall meeting at the haverford community recreation and environmental center in haverford, pa. on october 4. | ap photo the democrat plays up trump<u+2019>s insults against women to hurt his standing with white women here. by annie karni 10/04/16 02:05 pm edt haverford, pa. <u+2014> for hillary clinton to crack her highest, hardest glass ceiling in 35 days, she needs to make sure donald trump<u+2019>s ceiling with suburban white women is made of cement. that<u+2019>s what brought her to this predominantly white, well-to-do <u+201c>collar county<u+201d> of philadelphia, where she participated in a family town hall with her daughter, chelsea, and the actress elizabeth banks, whom the campaign pointed out in its press releases has a local connection: she<u+2019>s a graduate of the university of pennsylvania (which also happens to be donald trump<u+2019>s alma mater). story continued below in front of an audience of about 800 suburban women, many of whom brought their daughters, clinton spent an hour discussing her debt-free college plans, combatting gun violence and school bullying. the tone of the event was friendly and designed not to make news on the eve of the vice presidential debate -- instead, it was an opportunity to show a softer side in front of an audience turned off by trump's personal attacks. <u+201c>the debate on monday night was not the most important thing that happened to my family that night,<u+201d> chelsea clinton said, noting it coincided with her daughter charlotte<u+2019>s second birthday. (but given the high stakes of the first debate, which helped turn the tide of the election back in clinton<u+2019>s direction, resuscitating her campaign, it was hard to believe that statement was true.) the town hall forum was also a chance for clinton to come off as a role model <u+2014> an implicit contrast to trump, who members of his own party, like new hampshire senate candidate kelly ayotte, cannot even call a role model without feeling backlash. when asked by 15-year-old brennan leach what she would do about school bullying and trump<u+2019>s judgement of women based on their looks, clinton said that <u+201c>my opponent has taken this concern to a new level of difficulty and meanness. it<u+2019>s shocking when women are called names and judged on the basis, solely on the basis, of physical attributes.<u+201d> by steven shepard she added: <u+201c>there are too many women online who are being bullied about how they look. you should be healthy, you should take care of yourself, but we are not all going to end up being miss universe, i hate to tell you. let<u+2019>s be proud of who we are.<u+201d> another middle school student, ava holtzman, who captains her school<u+2019>s debate team, said in a mock debate, her team representing clinton won. "thanks for winning the debate!" clinton laughed in response. "that makes us 2 and 0." these well-to-do white suburbs are where trump needs to excel to make up for his deficits with black voters -- cbs news<u+2019> post-debate poll showed clinton winning 80 percent of the black vote to trump<u+2019>s 7 percent (gary johnson picked up 5 percent, and jill stein picked up 2 percent). four years ago, mitt romney won college-educated voters in pennsylvania, but trump is lagging -- clinton is currently leading trump 54-45 among college-educated voters in pennsylvania, according to a cnn/orc pennsylvania poll released last week (romney won that group 57-41 percent). clinton is particularly strong with the women in that group: the same poll had her leading 48-44 among white women in pennsylvania, whom romney won 54 to 45 percent in 2012. clinton expressed empathy for a woman, marilyn klive, who took the microphone to tell the former secretary of state that one of her sons was killed by gun violence, and that her second son committed suicide after the tragic loss. <u+201c>thank you for being so brave,<u+201d> clinton told her. <u+201c>despite what you hear from the gun lobby and people who do their bidding, the vast majority of americans want us to tackle the epidemic of gun violence.<u+201d> clinton was scheduled to make a second pennsylvania stop, in harrisburg, later in the day. by bill scher by joshua zeitz by thomas wright by jack shafer
clinton tries to extend lead among pennsylvania women - politico
annie karni steven shepard jack shafer