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What Are the Worst Campaign Mistakes of All Time?
Listen up, politicians of America. I’m about to give you a piece of advice — the kind that would cost you five large from the pros — totally for free. When you are running for office, you are representing a geographical area with set boundaries. It is generally a good idea to live within those boundaries.
I mention this because the latest bit of polling out of Kansas shows veteran Republican U.S. Senator Pat Roberts — who would normally be a shoo-in for reelection — seven points behind independent candidate Greg Orman. The problem, at least in part: Roberts doesn’t seem to have lived in Kansas in any meaningful way for a very long time.
Here’s another complimentary piece of guidance: if you violated that first rule and never bothered going home, do not say — as Roberts did — “Every time I get an opponent … I mean, every time I get a chance, I’m home.” There are Freudian slips and then there are Freudian suicide attempts.
It’s not like Roberts — or, for that matter, Mary Landrieu, who has residency issues of her own — wasn’t warned. Richard Lugar lost his primary in Indiana in 2012 partially because he lived in a hotel when he was in the state (and partially because — and I have this on good medical authority — he was, biologically, a muppet). Elizabeth Dole got sent home in 2006 because she holed up in the Watergate with Bob rather than bothering to visit North Carolina (a state, aides insisted, that she could find on a map if you’d spot her three attempts and identify South Carolina in advance).
This got me to thinking about the worst unforced errors in political campaigns. I’m not talking about scandals or tactical mistakes, just extraordinary acts of avoidable stupidity (I’ve always been partial, for example, to Martha Coakley blowing up an entire campaign in Massachusetts by evincing total ignorance about the Red Sox). What are some of your favorites?
Published in General
Killing Alexander Hamilton with a pistol has to rank up there.
Previously, I hadn’t thought that Dukakis pic had been so bad. But now – maybe if he had bothered to actually adjust the chin strap, it wouldn’t have been to bad.
But this, well….
And then attempting to overthrow the government iced Mr. Burr’s cake.
Following that up with an attempted overthrow of the government must be top two consecutive mistakes.
Rick Perry’s 3 agencies resulting in another 4 years of our very own Dear Leader.
Jeffersonian propaganda: Burr was attempting to stage a filibuster of Texas and Mexico, as many figures had before him (and would after). All the evidence that he had designs on the Federal government were hearsay and — in many cases — outright perjury.
The actual traitor in the whole affair was Gen. James Wilkinson, who — unbeknownst to anyone at the time — was a well-paid agent for Spain. Wilkinson was using Burr’s plan to scare his Spanish employers into paying him more money, and then sold Jefferson the story about a conspiracy against the United States in order to get rid of him.
Burr was no innocent, but he was no traitor, either.
I don’t recall whether he was in the middle of a campaign at the time, but Marion Barry did himself no favors by smoking crack in a hotel room with a companion of … questionable loyalty and motives.
I think it’s possible what he intended to say was “Every time I get an opportunity, I’m home.” But, yeah, that’s was a big freudian slip.
Also, the proximate cause for the duel were vague comments attributed to Hamilton about Burr during the latter’s disastrous run for NY governor in 1804 (amazingly, Burr ran as a Federalist and Hamilton supported the Republican candidate behind the scenes).
It had been a particularly nasty campaign, with even more scurrilous, anonymous attacks than usual. It’s likely that the worst of these were actually written by or for DeWitt Clinton, who hated both Hamilton and Burr.
47%
I’m still not over it. Don’t diss people you want to vote for you. Everrrr.
I was asking my daughter Amy the other day about nuclear proliferation…
Poland is not under the influence of the Soviet Union…
There are natural defenses against rape…
… And I am not a witch.
Was it Walter Mondale who promised to raise taxes if elected? Of course, he was doomed, anyway.
George McGovern’s “demogrant” program to give $1000 to every citizen. The reason it wouldn’t work today is he would be accused of bias against non-citizens who deserve it just as much.
Al Gore’s sigh’s. George H. W. Bush looking at his watch, along with “read my lips”. Roseanne Barr, being Roseanne Barr…
I think suspending one’s campaign and running back to Washington to handle an “economic crisis” counts for an unforced error. Particularly while one’s opponent carries on as if nothing has happened. (But he always voted “present” anyway.)
Will I completely blow up the thread if I mention Sarah Palin as VP nominee?
Will I completely blow up the thread if I mention Sarah Palin as VP nominee?
Why, yes, that is a distinct possibility, that having been the highlight of the McCain campaign.
“George H. W. Bush looking at his watch”
Was that an actual gaffe, or was that a small gesture the press built into a giant mistake to aid Clinton? Not knowing what was actually going through Bush’s mind at that moment, I view it as, you’re on a televised debate, you need to check to see if someone is exceeding his time limit, and/or when you’re up next, you check your watch.
Like the financial press pulling a reason out of its hat to explain how Wall Street performed that day in a short soundbite, did the press pull out of the blue the reasoning that “Bush checks his watch, thereby indicating he looks bored at the debate, thereby indicating he’s bored with the presidency,” to bash Bush and help Bill?
I’d be curious to hear from someone who was following (or covering) politics as inside baseball more closely than I was back then.
Every Republican candidate running against an incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator, who is not pounding the [expletive] out of him/her for not passing a budget for years, is presently, right now, committing a top ten bone head mistake.
Ok, that and George Bush I looking at his watch several times during the debate with Clinton.
Yeah that’s right. It was the highlight. Oh that it never was because on the negative side she continues to be tabloid fodder rather than just kinda sorta doing the disappearing thing.
Ed, it looks like I posted my George Bush watch comment simultaneously with yours. I don’t remember the incident any better than you. For all I know, your spin theory is correct.
Yeah that’s right. It was the highlight. Oh that it never was because on the negative side she continues to be tabloid fodder rather than just kinda sorta doing the disappearing thing.
After her nomination was the only time McCain polled higher than Obama. That is why they had to destroy her. If she had not been nominated, there would have been no need to destroy the VP nominee because McCain would never have been competitive. I would say McCain’s error was in not effectively combating the “politics of personal destruction” the Ds unleashed.
McCain suspending his campaign to come back to Washington.
It is arguable that coming back to a Senate that your party controls to play a leadership role might be OK. Coming back to the Senate where the other party is in control is misbegotten. Did McCain really think that Harry Reid would welcome him back? At best, that’s pretty naive.
The net effect is that in the middle of a serious national problem, you try to play leader and you get batted away by the Senator from Nevada. Doesn’t bode well for someone who is auditioning to be leader of the free world.
Who can forget Al Gore’s multiple personalities and his stalking Bush on the debate stage – that was hilariously weird.
“Who am I? Why am I here?”
I don’t know if it was an error, per se, but it was darn funny.
(Trigger warning: contains Joe Sestak campaign commercial)
All together now, fellow Pennsylvania Ricochetti… “My change in party will enable me to be re-elected.”
If you’re not familiar with Arlen Specter’s melodious intonations, just pronounce it as nasally as you can, and get singsongy on “elected”, and you’ll get the idea.
Nominating Mitt Romney…….
Ditto.
Mitt Romney failing to stick to his guns after the Candy Crowley intervention. Also being intimidated out of bringing up Benghazi at all during the campaign or the last debate, which he should have done repeatedly, even if the question was about about school lunches or minimum wage.
Having your president cause a trillion dollar economic crisis less than two months before the election. Something tells me that didn’t improve relations between Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush.