Mark down Sept. 16, 2015, in the three hours between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. (in California), as the time the world changed. The next day, the news was that Carly Fiorina had dominated 10 other Republicans, tamed Donald Trump, and emerged as a viable presidential contender.

That same day, Hillary Clinton would also be making some news of her own by dropping 20 points in a month in her fan base of liberal women. She was caught in a “negativity loop” of three different problems: The news that she was playing to small rooms with empty seats in them; the news that Joe Biden was getting closer to running against her; and that Jerry Brown, (now 77), might be running too.