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Pundits' 7 Worst Campaign Blunders
Missed calls, poor predictions
By Nick McMaster
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Posted Oct 23, 08 1:16 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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Pundits make mistakes. And Salon has tallied the biggest whoppers of the presidential campaign:
- The “Palin bounce”—It fizzled and the Alaska governor has the highest negative approval ratings of a VP candidate in history.
- “Sergeant” Schmidt will right the USS McCain—Steve Schmidt’s strategy of daily news-cycle ready attacks sacrificed long-term ideological coherency, and made voters see McCain as overly negative.
- Oil prices will dominate the election—Oil’s now back to $70 a barrel, and “Brooding about a $100 fill-up seems so overwrought two months later with a financial system in tatters.”
- Obama should’ve taken public financing—$150 million in September vs. $84 million for the whole general election… What was he thinking?
- Obama was arrogant to contest red states—Virginia and Indiana lean blue, while McCain is forced to spend money defending former GOP strongholds.
- Congressmen will fear being associated with the “liberal” Obama—instead, it's GOP candidates distancing themselves from McCain.
- Hillary supporters will never vote Obama—Clinton-loving independents are still up for grabs, but most actual Democrats "have (surprise!) returned to the fold."