YOUNGSTOWN - The hand-lettered sign on the red pickup parked near the Hillary Clinton rally Saturday night at East High School told the story. The painted plywood proclaimed the area as "Ground Zero" for Donald Trump crossover voters. And that's why Clinton's first campaign trip after last week's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia zipped straight to the Mahoning Valley, where a host of Democratic voters in Ohio's March primary crossed over and took a Republican ballot.

YOUNGSTOWN � The hand-lettered sign on the red pickup parked near the Hillary Clinton rally Saturday night at East High School told the story.



The painted plywood proclaimed the area as �Ground Zero� for Donald Trump crossover voters.



And that�s why Clinton�s first campaign trip after last week�s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia zipped straight to the Mahoning Valley, where a host of Democratic voters in Ohio�s March primary crossed over and took a Republican ballot.



�We�ll be all over Ohio,� Clinton told packed high-school gym, as well as a couple of hundred in an overflow area.



�This is going to be a very intense campaign,� she added.



�Donald Trump is not a normal presidential candidate. Somebody who attacks everybody has something missing. ... He is temperamentally unfit and unqualified to be president of the United States."



Clinton�s running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine; his wife, Anne Holton; and former President Bill Clinton accompanied the newly anointed nominee.



Obviously, Clinton did not shy from directly challenging Trump in areas where he�s making an aggressive appeal to working-class families, who traditionally vote Democratic.



�We have a very stark choice in this election. It really is about the difference between pulling together, working together, making the future better together � and living with fear and anxiety and the bigotry, blustering and bullying we�re seeing from the other side.� Clinton said to loud cheers from several thousand at an earlier stop in Pittsburgh.



Trump has appealed to voters in those areas primarily by harshly condemning trade deals that initially, at least, were supported by both Clintons.



As Clinton was on her way to Pittsburgh, Trump tweeted: �The �Rust Belt� was created by politicians like the Clintons who allowed our jobs to be stolen from us by other countries like Mexico. END!�



But in Youngstown, Clinton said, �We are going to say �no� to unfair trade deals,� promising to name a special prosecutor to go after violators.



A new Morning Consult national poll released today shows Clinton leading Trump 43 percent to 40 percent, essentially reversing a 4-point Trump advantage after the GOP convention in Cleveland a week earlier. The survey showed that Clinton�s favorability increased after the Democratic convention in Philadelphia last week, as did her support among men.



The three-day bus caravan is reminiscent of a post-convention trip made in 1992 by Bill Clinton and Al Gore, fresh from their convention in New York City. Hundreds lined the streets of Utica to greet the duo who just east of town sat on bales with about 30 farmers at the spread of Gene Branstool, the Ohio Democratic chairman at the time.



In 1984, it was John Kerry�s turn, sprinting from the Boston convention through Pennsylvania and West Virginia to Zanesville.



Mahoning County Democratic Chairman David Betras � who had to fire 18 of the party�s central committee members because they cast a Republican ballot in the Ohio primary � said Trump won�t get a �free pass� from Democrats like he did in March.



�He did attract some Democratic votes, yeah, but that�s going to be by far the exception, not the rule,� Betras said in an interview before last night�s Youngstown rally.



�When these voters hear about the real Donald Trump, and not the fake, they�re coming home,� Betras predicted. �When the cameras weren�t on, he was outsourcing jobs and making his products overseas.�



Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told The Dispatch on Saturday that Ohioans should study the �very sharp differences� between Trump and Clinton.



The contrast is between �somebody whose entire record is killing jobs, Hillary Clinton, and somebody who is totally dedicated to creating jobs in Donald Trump.�



Gingrich also pointed to eastern Ohio and Trump's support for the coal industry and fracking, while Clinton wants clean-energy alternatives �Donald Trump represents lower-cost energy which lets us in compete in world markets and manufacturing and Hillary represents higher-cost energy which is going to kill Ohio jobs,� Gingrich said.



�Ask yourself which of these two candidates is more likely to be tough on trade and tough on negotiations and focused in a practical way on job creation. It seems to me in every one of those counts, Trump beats Hillary badly.�



Clinton and Kaine conclude their post-convention odyssey to Ohio today in Columbus with a stop at Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center at 2:45 p.m. (moved up from the original 5:30 start time).



Trump visits the Greater Columbus Convention Center at 3 p.m. Monday. That comes on the heels of a Trump appearance Thursday in Toledo and one Friday by running mate Mike Pence in Lima.



Dispatch Reporter Randy Ludlow contributed to this story.

drowland@dispatch.com

@darreldrowland