As Donald Trump continues to escape Earth orbit, Hillary Clinton’s election appears increasingly likely. Yet…why do we still fear that Trump will turn into an asteroid, slam into us on Election Day and pulverize life as we know it?

Let’s look at two exhibits.

In a perceptive analysis, Dan Balz of the Washington Post wrote that one of Clinton’s challenges in tonight’s debate is to do the simple thing that too many campaigns forget to do: “…make a strong, affirmative and compelling case for a possible Clinton presidency.”

He added:

“No one doubts her grasp of policy. Earlier in the campaign, policy discussions were blocked off for hours, rare for a presidential candidate. She was not one for a once-over-lightly look at what the policy team was advocating. She loves being in the weeds.

“But there’s a difference between that and finding a way to explain positively why she wants to be president….The best politicians know it and find a way to project it. Clinton has struggled throughout the campaign to do so.”

The other exhibit is a Politico blog about emails hacked from the Clinton campaign. It showed how many Clinton campaign staffers it took to compose her tweet about the Puerto Rico debt crisis.

Answer: 11 staffers. For one tweet. Of 140 characters. On Puerto Rico’s debt crisis.

Now, there’s nothing bad and a lot good about a President who has a deep knowledge of policy and a deep team of loyal, committed and equally policy-obsessed aides.

Trump has neither.

The challenge for Clinton tonight is to do more than bait Trump into more offensive and off-putting behavior.

That will go a long way to nailing down her win. But if she can also introduce Americans to a likeable, admirable character with a sensible plan for the future, she’ll do more than win. She’ll get her Presidency off to a good start.