WASHINGTON — Waves of campaign staffers are being dispatched to battleground states. Advisers are starting to consider locations for a splashy convention rally in Philadelphia. And an army of lawyers is scrutinizing more than two dozen possible vice presidential picks.

Though she has yet to capture the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton and her team are taking early steps into a general election campaign.

Aides are working under the assumption that GOP front-runner Donald Trump will be her opponent.

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Six months before the presidential election, they're now preparing their candidate and party for what may be a hard-fought — and personally ugly — battle in the fall.

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