海角大神

Top 10 mistakes of Election 2010

We all make mistakes. But in the world of politics, it鈥檚 an art form. Sometimes they鈥檙e game-changers, or at least make the possibility of catching the front-runner more difficult. Some are Hail Mary passes gone terribly wrong. Not everyone will agree that everything here was a mistake.

So without further ado, here鈥檚 our list of favorites from Election 2010, in no particular order, and focused on mistakes that could affect the outcome of a race. They鈥檙e mostly from Senate and governors鈥 races. We鈥檙e sure House candidates made plenty of mistakes, too, but most didn鈥檛 get national news coverage.

Christine O鈥橠onnell's 'I am not a Witch' ad

Tim Shaffer/Reuters
Christine O' Donnell in her 'I am not a witch' ad.

When Ms. O鈥橠onnell unexpectedly won the Delaware GOP Senate primary, her past came flooding back 鈥 including an old TV appearance in which she talked about youthful dabbling in witchcraft. Cable TV had a field day with that, prompting her first post-primary ad in which she declares, 鈥I am not a witch.鈥

She says she now regrets the ad. Indeed, it only inflamed the whole witchcraft theme, and kept her from trying to establish herself as a serious candidate.

This early mistake wouldn鈥檛 matter if she truly had no shot at winning. Pundits have uniformly written off the tea party favorite. But a recent poll (Monmouth University) shows her down by only 10 points, and in this cycle, you never know.

1 of 10
You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.