Flint is a city of a hundred thousand that was having a rough go of it even before its water was poisoned by lead. And when the water crisis finally grabbed national headlines this winter, the Democratic presidential candidates noticed. Hillary Clinton sent senior staff to investigate and asked her supporters to donate to a fund for Flint's kids. Bernie Sanders called on Michigan's Republican governor, Rick Snyder, to resign.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are not themselves members of the middle class, not by a long shot, which means they've searched for other ways to prove to voters that they care about their concerns and understand what middle class workers are going through.

One thing that President Donald Trump did is, when he formed his team, he brought in people who had some experience in dealing with natural disasters, which is a mistake that the Bush administration made.

[Hillary Clinton] has talked about not being a natural campaigner. And she has this big shadow because her husband, the former president [Bill Clinton], and President [Barack] Obama both are natural campaigners. And so this is a challenge for her.

I don't think that [Hillary Clinton] can turn around her honesty and trustworthiness problems with one speech, but she could present herself tonight as more relatable, give people a glimpse of that warm, funny woman the people who meet her in small groups and one-on-one say that she is.

The difference in the way Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump talk about the middle class is stark. For Clinton, it's a story of hope. For Trump, it is a story of loss.

Judy Price Osgood is a longtime friend of Clinton's, and she says she meets people regularly who say they don't like [Hillary] Clinton.