MSNBC host Thomas Roberts asked Hillary Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon if his campaign preferred being "the underdog" on Thursday as polls show a shift toward Republican Donald Trump.
Roberts ran down the polls showing a tight or even tied national race between Clinton and Trump, as well as new CNN polling that shows Trump ahead in the critical states of Florida and Ohio.
"Did the campaign squander what was a sizable advantage, just weeks ago, in the past couple of days?" Roberts asked.
"No, I don’t think so, Thomas," Fallon said. "I think the tightening that we’re seeing is a natural point here in the campaign, where it’s happening post-Labor Day."
Given the country’s polarization, Fallon said it was the "norm" for presidential elections.
"They’re very tight contests," he said. "I think, in general, we are in offense in terms of the battleground map. We’re in North Carolina today. That is a state that President Obama did not win in 2012, but all of these states are going to be very close until the very end."
Roberts noted his use of the word "offense."
"Brian, you say you’re on offense, though, so do you prefer being the underdog at this point?" Roberts asked.
"Well, I don’t know who you’d call the underdog or who’d be the favorite," he said. "I think at this point it’s a very tight contest, and if Democrats and independents and even some Republicans that have decided that Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States were starting to take anything for granted, then I hope that these polls will serve as a wakeup call to them."