Jessie Balmert

jbalmert@enquirer.com

COLUMBUS - Hillary Clinton was speaking to one of the biggest crowds of her campaign, but the millennial audience just wasn’t dominating her turnout. But that might not matter in Ohio after Republican Donald Trump's disastrous weekend.

Fresh off a presidential debate with the Republican presidential candidate, Clinton sought to appeal to young voters with pitches for free in-state tuition for families with incomes of less than $125,000 and to Ohio's blue-collar workforce with her opposition to the same trade deals that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke against in the Democratic primary. “Your generation, the young people of America, are the most tolerant, open and generous generation in American history,” she told a group of several thousand gathered at Ohio State University’s football stadium Monday night – a crowd that did include college students.

Numbering more than 10,000, with several thousand more reportedly outside, the crowd represented one of Clinton's largest of the campaign. But the group that gathered early and crowded in close was significantly smaller and older than the approximately 35,000 people who packed Ohio State's Oval in 2010 for an appearance by President Barack Obama.

Clinton has struggled to attract the younger members of the coalition that elected Obama to the White House. But that division might mean more if Trump wasn't the alternative for president.

On Friday, a video was leaked to the Washington Post depicting Trump bragging about groping women and kissing them without consent. Before those comments, the race in Ohio was tight. Recent polls had showed Clinton with a slight edge, but most were taken before Friday's lewd comments were released.

Then the fallout started. Republicans, including Sen. Rob Portman, dropped their endorsements of Trump. Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges remains uncertain about his pick for president. And Ohioans start voting Wednesday.

Clinton came out swinging Monday, prepared with her own recap of Sunday's debate: "Donald Trump spent his time last night attacking me when he should have been apologizing,” she told the crowd.

"To paraphrase (First Lady Michelle Obama), one of us went low and one of us went high," she said.

“He is an equal-opportunity insulter if there ever was one," Clinton quipped.

She also tailored some of her message to Ohio's working-class voters. She accused Trump of shipping manufacturing jobs overseas rather than keeping them in states like Ohio. She praised the state's blue-collar workers, calling for a "manufacturing renaissance." In March, Clinton had flubbed a statement about putting mine workers out of work – in favor of higher paying clean energy jobs. But many in the industry haven't forgotten the mistake.

The release of Trump's video last week largely overshadowed WikiLeaks' Friday release of campaign-related emails about paid speeches Clinton made, many to Wall Street firms. In one excerpt, she reportedly discusses having a private and public position on certain issues – a comment a Virginia voter called "two-faced" during Sunday's town hall-style debate.

But the hacks, along with State Department emails Clinton stored in a private server and later deleted, were not concerns to Clinton supporters gathered in Columbus. They see Trump as a much bigger threat.

"I think that kind of thing happens," Columbus resident Anita Janssen said of the removed emails. "I lose emails all the time."

These supporters were more upset about Trump's lewd video and comments during the campaign. Janssen said she doesn't watch the debates with her 14-year-old daughter, Sophie. They make Anita too angry.

"Disgusting," said Alex Cofield, of Hilliard, who was wearing a yellow "Never Trump" button with a picture of Monopoly's mascot, "Rich Uncle Pennybags." And Trump's explanation that such talk is simply locker room banter? "No. Not all men do this," she said.

Her friend, Tracy Gaines, chimed in: "They knew that he was a pig when they put him there."

USA Today staff and Enquirer reporter Chrissie Thompson contributed to this article.