Democrats grapple with Trump effect

Months of intense focus on the Republican presidential race have prompted Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton to turn her attention to her would-be challengers in the general election, leaving her chief Democratic rival gasping for airtime.

Now, after spending weeks largely out of the spotlight nationally, Clinton plans to intensify her campaign schedule from an almost incumbent-style public effort to a more aggressive approach.

With just six weeks left before the first round of primary voting, Clinton plans a series of multi-day swings through Iowa starting in January, interspersing trips there with stops in New Hampshire and other early primary states. 

Her campaign will also unveil what Clinton has called her "not-so-secret weapon", sending her husband, former President Bill Clinton, out to hit the stump after months of behind-the-scenes activity.

And in a sign of the escalating battle between the two party front-runners, her campaign was forced to engage with Republican Donald Trump on Tuesday after he called Clinton's bathroom break during the recent debate "disgusting" and said she was "schlonged" in the 2008 race for the Democratic nomination, using a vulgar Yiddish term to describe her loss to now-President Barack Obama.


On Twitter on Tuesday, Trump denied the word was vulgar and said it simply means "beaten badly".
In an interview on Tuesday with The Des Moines Register, Clinton said: "I don't know that he has any boundaries at all. His bigotry, his bluster, his bullying have become his campaign."