LISA DESJARDINS:

To Senate Republicans mired in reelection fights. Arizona's John McCain said in a statement that Trump's nomination doesn't give him — quote — "unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us."

Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire wrote: "I am appalled that Donald Trump would disparage the Khan family."

And there were more. Missouri's Roy Blunt, Ohio's Rob Portman, Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey, and Wisconsin's Ron Johnson all today separated themselves from Trump. And, notably, a group usually far outside politics, the Veterans of Foreign wars, or VFW, also weighed in, with a statement saying: "To ridicule a Gold Star mother is out-of-bounds."

His Democratic counterpart, Hillary Clinton, is in Nebraska today, but spoke about all this yesterday during her own Rust Belt tour.

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), Presidential Nominee: To launch an attack, as he did, on Captain Khan's mother, a Gold Star mother, I don't know where the bounds are. I don't know where the bottom is.