First came the dire warning from Hillary Clinton: "Economists on the right and the left and the center all agree: (Donald) Trump would throw us back into recession." Then the snarky remark: "He's written a lot of books about business - but they all seem to end at Chapter 11." And finally the gut punch: "We can't let him bankrupt America like we are one of his failed casinos. We can't let him roll the dice with our children's futures." On Tuesday, Clinton chose her first visit to Columbus as presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to challenge Trump in an area of perceived strength: his business acumen and presumed ability to handle the economy.

First came the dire warning from Hillary Clinton: �Economists on the right and the left and the center all agree: (Donald) Trump would throw us back into recession.�

Then the snarky remark: �He�s written a lot of books about business � but they all seem to end at Chapter 11.�

And finally the gut punch: �We can�t let him bankrupt America like we are one of his failed casinos. We can�t let him roll the dice with our children�s futures.�

On Tuesday, Clinton chose her first visit to Columbus as presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to challenge Trump in an area of perceived strength: his business acumen and presumed ability to handle the economy.

�We cannot put a person like this, with all his empty promises, in a position of power over our lives,� she told a few hundred people crammed into the sweltering automotive shop of Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center, a magnet school for Columbus City Schools located near Interstates 71 and 670.

Frequently quoting Trump � such as the time he referred to pregnant employees as �an inconvenience� � the former secretary of state said, �Making Donald Trump our president would undo much of the progress we�ve made and put our economy at risk.�

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The Trump camp returned fire, both via email and the presumptive GOP nominee�s Twitter feed.

A sampling (errors included) of the latter:

�How can Hillary run the economy when she can�t even send emails without putting entire nation at risk?�

�Hillary says this election is about judgment. She�s right. Her judgement has killed thousands, unleashed ISIS and wrecked the economy.�

�Hillary took money and did favors for regimes that enslave women and murder gays.�

�Hillary defrauded America as Secy of State. She used it as a personal hedge fund to get herself rich! Corrupt, dangerous, dishonest�

In a statement, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said, �Hillary Clinton is the last person qualified to talk about what will get our economy thriving again. After eight years of disastrous Obama policies which have produced stagnant wages, historically weak growth, and a declining middle class, Hillary Clinton is doubling down on the same failed agenda which has left our country wondering when prosperity will come back.�

Clinton noted the independent Tax Policy Center calculated that Trump�s economic plan would increase the national debt by more than $30 trillion over 20 years. She said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody�s Analytics as well as an economic adviser to both Republican Sen. John McCain and Democrat President Barack Obama � not to mention a Democrat and Clinton donor � projected a loss of 3.5 million jobs under Trump, as well as stagnated incomes, exploding debt and plummeting stock prices.

But Clinton not only set out to critique Trump�s economic proposals, she sought to undermine the claimed business expertise he says he�ll bring to the White House.

�Over the years, he intentionally ran up huge amounts of debt on his companies and then defaulted. He bankrupted those companies � not once, not twice, but four times.

�Hundreds of people lost their jobs. Shareholders were wiped out. Lenders lost money. Contractors � many of them small businesses � took heavy losses. Many went bust.

�But Donald Trump always came out fine.�

Clinton also tried to paint him as a hypocrite, especially his talk about "America First."

�Interestingly, Trump�s own products are made in a lot of countries that aren�t named America: Trump ties are made in China, Trump suits in Mexico, Trump furniture in Turkey, Trump picture frames in India and Trump barware in Slovenia."

Clinton even took on Trump�s oft-stated pledge to build a wall on the Mexican/U.S. border.

�Personally I�d rather spend our money on rebuilding our schools,� she said.

Immediately after her 35-minute speech, the Clinton campaign backed her contentions with an email containing links to Trump�s actual remarks.

The campaign also set up a new website � ArtOfTheSteal.biz � and web video hitting Trump�s business ventures.

The Trump campaign also rolled out a new website: LyingCrookedHillary.com, �which will showcase some of Clinton�s most disastrous lies to the American people�

�We can�t trust her now and we can�t allow her to take her dishonesty to the White House. At every stage of Clinton�s career, she has deceived the public to enrich herself and family at the expense of Americans.�

drowland@dispatch.com

@darreldrowland