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The thud fell in a campaign already struggling with a listless October, which had replaced the late summer exuberance and a September debate that nearly every political observer other than Donald Trump acknowledged she crushed. As aides new to the Harris orbit exerted control, she struggled with preparation. She grew hesitant, losing some of the confidence and swagger that had defined the early weeks of her reintroduction to the country. Aides who had successfully pushed her out of her comfort zone earlier in the year felt like they were running into the kind of walls she used to put up.
