WASHINGTON — "It’s been quite a week, hasn’t it?"

Hillary Clinton put it best herself when she took the stage Friday morning at a Democratic National Committee leadership event in Washington.

The former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate who has been facing a serious challenge by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the key early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire seems to have re-cemented her status as the party’s frontrunner.

See also: Even conservatives admit the Benghazi hearing was a win for Hillary Clinton

It also gives her a much needed tailwind as she prepares to address Iowa Democrats at the annual "Jefferson-Jackson Dinner" in Des Moines, one of the state party’s most influential events.

October has been kind to Clinton’s campaign: She outshined her rivals in the first Democratic primary debate of the season. Then, the Democratic field began to shrink.

First former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb announced his exit. Then, one day before Clinton was set to testify before Congress, Vice President Joe Biden announced that he would remain on the sidelines.

Clinton weathered Thursday's grueling 11-hour hearing before the committee investigating the Sept. 2012 Benghazi attacks. Even the committee's chairman told reporters that the hearing failed to unearth any new information. The next morning former Rhode Island governor and senator Lincoln Chafee ended his long-shot bid for the nomination, citing Clinton's "good week" as one of the reasons why.

No doubt Hillary Clinton had the best week in Washington. The best couple of weeks. She needed it after this summer. — Amie Parnes (@amieparnes) October 23, 2015

It's striking to see the Clinton camp push these figures out: they're very OK with the solidifying narrative that she's had a good week. — Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) October 23, 2015

Clinton also picked up a big endorsement that could help her win over voters in the most progressive wing of the party: AFSCME, the largest trade union of public employees in the United States, announced its support for Clinton on Friday.

AFSCME president Lee Saunders said that the union’s members "want the candidate who will the most effective champion for working families, and who will be able to deliver a victory in this critically important election."

With Webb and Chafee out of the race and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley still trailing far behind in the polls, the race for the Democratic nomination has effectively winnowed down to a two-person race between Clinton and Sanders.

The good breaks that have come Clinton’s way are even more striking when viewed in comparison to the race for the Republican nomination, which is anything but settled. Businessman Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson continue to lead the massive field. And former Florida governor Jeb Bush, assumed to be the party’s front-runner, has reportedly cut staff and slashed salaries and vowed to focus on early primary states in order to reboot a campaign that has fallen far short of early expectations.

While Sanders and Clinton have drawn contrasts between each other — the two represent the opposite ends of the Democratic primary spectrum — they have largely done so with little open malice or divisive rhetoric. Meanwhile, Republicans led by Trump have lashed out at each other bitterly, putting the candidates’ dirty laundry on public display.

Saturday's Iowa Democratic party dinner will draw more than 6,000 state activists and is a must-stop for Democrats serious about winning the state. Sanders and O'Malley are also scheduled to speak.

In 2007, the dinner was a launchpad for then-candidate Barack Obama that propelled him to a surprise win in the state’s caucuses, which this cycle are scheduled for Feb. 1. Eight years ago, Clinton came in third in Iowa. This time around, her campaign has been laying the groundwork to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen next year.

Image: John Locher/Associated Press

A recent Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll found Clinton leading Sanders in Iowa 48 percent to 41 percent. O’Malley received 2 percent.

To be sure, Clinton is not without her hurdles: Her use of a private email system while she served as secretary of state and her family’s charitable foundation will continue to draw scrutiny both from the public and her opponents. She now must be careful not to let the "aura of inevitability," as the Boston Globe put it, turn into political poison And Sanders remains a force on the campaign trail, buoyed by what he calls a "political revolution" and his focus on economic inequality.

But at least for now, it’s hard to frame this week as anything but a Clinton win.