You’ve heard the predictions by now: Trump has no chance. Clinton is going to clean his clock just by being relatively normal. Trump might lose 40 states. In my case, I’ve not only heard these things, I’ve said them.

Nonetheless, as we pass Labor Day and head into the home stretch of the Presidential race, this one is starting to have more than a little bit of a tortoise and the hare feel to it. For all we can tell, Clinton has fallen asleep by the side of the road, taking a nap until it comes time to wake up and put Trump away. She hasn’t given a press avail in a blue moon, the email scandal continues to slowly bleed away her credibility, and Clinton and Kaine might as well not be existing in the media landscape.

Meanwhile, Trump is clumsy and his steps are still sometimes straying from the path, but he seems to be slowly lurching forward while Clinton dozes. His visit to Mexico was in the middle of a tumultuous week, but it was a smart strategic play, to put himself on stage with a weak, ineffectual, and unpopular leader. His painfully embarrassing outreach to the black community might not be working on the merits, but at least Trump is out there doing something and keeping himself in the news as someone who is trying to win elections.

Trump hasn’t passed Clinton yet, and I think if Clinton wants to she can still put this election away any time she wants. But right now Trump is without a doubt benefitting from being the harder worker on this campaign trail. And if Clinton ends up losing, she can blame the nap she decided to take during this vital portion of the campaign, when she had the chance to put her boot on Trump’s neck and end his challenge for good.