(CNN)A weekend of stumbles has Hillary Clinton suddenly looking vulnerable at a pivotal moment of her battle with Donald Trump.
Her swoon Sunday at muggy Ground Zero -- and damaging video of Clinton lurching into the arms of her security detail -- dramatically turned the state of her health from conservative conspiracy theory into a genuine campaign issue.
The episode also exacerbates questions about transparency that have long dogged Clinton"s White House bid after the campaign revealed the Democratic nominee is suffering from pneumonia -- a fact it kept quiet since Friday.
But Sunday"s drama was just merely a capstone on Clinton"s rough 48 hours.
Whether Clinton"s rocky weekend will turn out to be just another unexpected twist in an election season that has had everything, or exert a lasting political impact will only become clear in the coming days. She canceled a trip to California schedule for Monday and Tuesday. The speed of her recovery and the way her enemies handle the episode will do much to shape how voters respond to her health issue.
Weekend on defense
But a weekend on defense and a possibly reduced schedule going forward threatens to slow Clinton"s campaign at an unwelcome moment and will do little to calm increasingly jittery Democrats who only weeks ago were speculating about the possibility of an electoral landslide.
Donna Brazile, the interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, released a reassuring statement late Sunday wishing Clinton a "speedy recovery."
"I look forward to seeing her back out on the campaign trail and continuing on the path to victory," she said.
It was bad enough for Clinton that she had to leave the ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks early -- setting off alarm bells among her traveling press pool. But the later emergence of video showing her wobbly, staggering and stumbling before being helped into her black van conjured up the kind of image, played over and over on television, that campaign strategists dread.
The footage was more than a blow to her dignity. It will be used by opponents to validate a months-long campaign of rumors and innuendo about the true state of Clinton"s health.
Trump has frequently cast doubt on Clinton"s physical fitness, saying she lacks "stamina" and takes naps in the afternoon and runs on an easy schedule -- a claim debunked by reporters who follow her campaign.
Aware of potential impact
The Clinton campaign was clearly aware of the potential impact of the video. After resting at her daughter Chelsea"s apartment, the Democratic nominee emerged smiling, and under her own power in front of the cameras, taking a picture with a young girl before climbing into her motorcade.
"Back in October, the National Enquirer said I would be dead in six months. So with every breath I take, I feel like I have a new lease on life," Clinton said.
If Clinton is forced to take time off, it will fall to her high-profile surrogates to pick up the slack. President Barack Obama, for instance, is due to campaign for his former rival and secretary of state Tuesday in Philadelphia. His wife, Michelle Obama, will hit the campaign trail as well next week.
Clinton had hoped for better headlines after the first frenzied post-Labor Day week on the trail.
After months of dodging the press, she invited reporters to travel on her new campaign jet last week and took questions. On Friday, she gathered a group of high ranking former national security officials and military brass and delivered a presidential-style statement to stress her suitability to lead national security policy in the Oval Office.
Polls, however, show that Clinton"s lead has dramatically narrowed in recent weeks, amid unflattering coverage of the controversy over her email server and the Clinton Foundation.
A CNN/ORC poll last week had behind Trump by 2% among likely voters and there are also signs of tightening in swing state polls -- despite Clinton still having many more routes to 270 electoral votes than Trump
But in one ray of sunshine for Clinton on Sunday, an ABC News/Washington Post poll showed her up 5% on Trump among likely voters.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/11/politics/hillary-clinton-health-2016-election/index.html
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