5 best and worst campaigns

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Companion thread:

Best

5-Ted Strickland
OK, his campaign wasn't much more than just sitting back and watching his opponent self-destruct. But you got to hand it to a guy who played it that smart to pick up a governorship with over 60%.

4-Mike Beebe
True, you never heard anything about him, but that's because this was never competitive. That itself is an accomplishment.

3-Sarah Palin
Beating Tony Knowles by 8 points in 2006 when Frank Murkowski is the current governor (even if you ousted him in the primary) is no small feat.

2-Martin O'Malley
He's already established rock star status before being sworn in. And he's devestated what's left of the GOP in Maryland.

1-Deval Patrick
The Obama of this cycle. Black guy comes out of nowhere to crush his opponents in the primary, and win the general in a landslide. Only he had a credible opponent.

Worst

5-Jim Nussle
You can tell things are bad when you lose your own congressional district by 17 points.

4-Mark Taylor
What happens when you pretty much do every single thing in your campaign wrong.

3-Judy Baar Topinka
Your opponent is corrupt and very unpopular, and the Green is getting over 10% and you started the campaign up 11 points. Can you blow it and lose in a landslide? Yes.

2-Ken Blackwell
A textbook example of how to do everything you possibly can to not only lose the election, but look like the world's biggest douchebag in the process.

1-Phil Angelides
How do you lose Contra Costa county to Arnold in 2006?

[7,052,770]

What about Bell for best campaigns?  He started off in 4th around 10% and improved a lot.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

5-Ted Strickland
OK, his campaign wasn't much more than just sitting back and watching his opponent self-destruct. But you got to hand it to a guy who played it that smart to pick up a governorship with over 60%.

But Spitzer got 69% in a pickup, and if his opponent self-destructed, no one noticed.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

At least he didn't lose Marin county 40-47 like Bustamante did.

[RBH]

Ernest Istook is probably meriting a "worst" honor too.

Or Lynn Swann.

[HardRCafé]

4-Mark Taylor
What happens when you pretty much do every single thing in your campaign wrong.

3-Judy Baar Topinka
Your opponent is corrupt and very unpopular, and the Green is getting over 10% and you started the campaign up 11 points. Can you blow it and lose in a landslide? Yes.

2-Ken Blackwell
A textbook example of how to do everything you possibly can to not only lose the election, but look like the world's biggest douchebag in the process.

I am unaware of a single thing Taylor did wrong, except maybe run for Gov. instead of Lt. Gov.

According to whom and when was Topinka up eleven?

Nevermind, this lost any and all credibility when you used the word "douchebag."

[socaldem]

I found the dynamics in Ohio fascinating.  Of course, Blackwell was a terrible candidate but he and DeWine actually held there own in one place--Hamilton County where they performed about as well as Bush in 2004.  Perhaps this is because of low black turnout.

In contrast, Northeast Ohio (Brown Country) and Southeast Ohio (Strickland territory) had margins for the Democrats that I would have thought to be unfathomable.  I think the Brown-Strickland one-two punch had some serious synergy when it came to the election results.

I only regret that there wasn't someone who could really get out the black vote for Dems in Hamilton and Franklin Counties.  That would've pulled Kilroy/Cranley/Wulsin over the finish line. 

Cranley, in particular, was really hurt by the inability of the Dem ticket to rack up a win in Hamilton county.  Still, its nice to see that David Pepper won the county comissioner seat and with Todd Portune, it will have a Dem majority for the first time, like, ever.

[Rob]

Best (no particular order)

Jerry Brady (D-ID)
Jennifer Granholm (D-MI)
Sarah Palin (R-AK)
Bill Ritter (D-CO)
Chet Culver (D-IA)

Worst (no particular order)

Phil Angelides (D-CA)
Ernest Istook (R-OK)
Mike Hatch (DFL-MN)
Lynn Swann (R-PA)
Ken Blackwell (R-OH)

[HardRCafé]

Jerry Brady (D-ID)

Republican Kempthorne
231,270 56%
Democrat Brady
171,495 42%

Republican Otter
235,729 52%
Democrat Brady
198,065 44%

For an open seat, is this such an improvement?

[Keystone Phil]

Too lazy to do the full lists but Swann definetley deserves a mention as one of the worst run campaigns.

[Rob]

For an open seat, is this such an improvement?

Well, he also ran an exceptionally strong campaign in 2002. Holding a popular Republican Governor to 56 percent in an ultra-Republican state is no mean feat.

This year wasn't much better for Brady, opposition-wise. "Butch" Otter is very popular, and he's a fixture in Idaho politics. No other Democrat could have gotten 44 percent against him, and we should recognize what an accomplishment this was.

Jerry Brady was a fantastic candidate in the wrong state.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I am unaware of a single thing Taylor did wrong, except maybe run for Gov. instead of Lt. Gov.

From what I heard he completely ignored the issues at the debates and just kept bringing up a land deal Perdue was involved in. He also ran out of money, and never got his campaign going anywhere. He was the Democratic Mark Kennedy.

According to whom and when was Topinka up eleven?

You just replied to that:
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=36061.0

[Colin]

Too lazy to do the full lists but Swann definetley deserves a mention as one of the worst run campaigns.

Absolutely. His campaign was non-existant and in a year when Rendell was actually rather vulnerable the inability for Swann to ever actually get his show on the road, so to speak, doomed him to 40%.

[Erc]

Whatever did happen to Jim Nussle?

[Deano963]

4-Mark Taylor
What happens when you pretty much do every single thing in your campaign wrong.

3-Judy Baar Topinka
Your opponent is corrupt and very unpopular, and the Green is getting over 10% and you started the campaign up 11 points. Can you blow it and lose in a landslide? Yes.

2-Ken Blackwell
A textbook example of how to do everything you possibly can to not only lose the election, but look like the world's biggest douchebag in the process.

Nevermind, this lost any and all credibility when you used the word "douchebag."

That word very accurately describes Ken Blackwell. Get over it.

[Nym90]

Dick Devos deserves a mention for worst candidate. He was Michigan's Mark Kennedy.

Granholm had poor approval ratings and she still managed to beat him by 14 points. He had absolutely no response for the attacks against him for being a corporate shill other than to change the subject, and try to blame Michigan's lackluster economy on Granholm (as opposed to the GOP state legislature, GOP President, and GOP Congress).

[adam]

Best
5. Jim Webb (D-VA)
4. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
3. Bob Corker (R-TN)
2. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) (flame away)
1. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)

Worst
5. Lynn Swann (R-PA)
4. Lincoln Chafee ("R"-RI)
3. Phil Angelides (D-CA)
2. Ken Blackwell (R-OH)
1. Mike DeWine (R-OH)

[HardRCafé]

You just replied to that:
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=36061.0

OK, pre-primary.

[nini2287]

Best
5. Jim Webb (D-VA)
4. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
3. Bob Corker (R-TN)
2. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) (flame away)
1. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)

Worst
5. Lynn Swann (R-PA)
4. Lincoln Chafee ("R"-RI)
3. Phil Angelides (D-CA)
2. Ken Blackwell (R-OH)
1. Mike DeWine (R-OH)

Allen should be on the list of worst campaigns, and Webb doesn't deserve to be on the best campaigns.  Webb just sat back and let Allen self-destruct.

[adam]

Best
5. Jim Webb (D-VA)
4. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
3. Bob Corker (R-TN)
2. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) (flame away)
1. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)

Worst
5. Lynn Swann (R-PA)
4. Lincoln Chafee ("R"-RI)
3. Phil Angelides (D-CA)
2. Ken Blackwell (R-OH)
1. Mike DeWine (R-OH)

Allen should be on the list of worst campaigns, and Webb doesn't deserve to be on the best campaigns.  Webb just sat back and let Allen self-destruct.

I was actually thinking that myself and then I came to the conclusion that Jim Webb ran a good campaign in the sense that he took the momentum and just ran with it. He simply didn't do anything stupid, which in the day and age, is a good campaign. In all reality, I couldn't confine all of the horrid campaigns to five spots. There are plenty of interchangables.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Well this was only for the gubernatorial campaigns, the Senate ones were in the other thread.

How does Katherine Harris not end up on the list either way though?

[GOP = Terrorists]

2. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) (flame away)

Well he ran a Karl Rove campaign for sure.

[Galactic Overlord]

I found the dynamics in Ohio fascinating.  Of course, Blackwell was a terrible candidate but he and DeWine actually held there own in one place--Hamilton County where they performed about as well as Bush in 2004.  Perhaps this is because of low black turnout.

In contrast, Northeast Ohio (Brown Country) and Southeast Ohio (Strickland territory) had margins for the Democrats that I would have thought to be unfathomable.  I think the Brown-Strickland one-two punch had some serious synergy when it came to the election results.

I only regret that there wasn't someone who could really get out the black vote for Dems in Hamilton and Franklin Counties.  That would've pulled Kilroy/Cranley/Wulsin over the finish line. 

Cranley, in particular, was really hurt by the inability of the Dem ticket to rack up a win in Hamilton county.  Still, its nice to see that David Pepper won the county comissioner seat and with Todd Portune, it will have a Dem majority for the first time, like, ever.

Given Bob Taft and Bob Ney, I don't see how any Republican could have won in that environment.  Actually, the Dem votes in Hamiliton and Franklin were already very high, I doubt they could have done better.

[socaldem]

I found the dynamics in Ohio fascinating.  Of course, Blackwell was a terrible candidate but he and DeWine actually held there own in one place--Hamilton County where they performed about as well as Bush in 2004.  Perhaps this is because of low black turnout.

In contrast, Northeast Ohio (Brown Country) and Southeast Ohio (Strickland territory) had margins for the Democrats that I would have thought to be unfathomable.  I think the Brown-Strickland one-two punch had some serious synergy when it came to the election results.

I only regret that there wasn't someone who could really get out the black vote for Dems in Hamilton and Franklin Counties.  That would've pulled Kilroy/Cranley/Wulsin over the finish line. 

Cranley, in particular, was really hurt by the inability of the Dem ticket to rack up a win in Hamilton county.  Still, its nice to see that David Pepper won the county comissioner seat and with Todd Portune, it will have a Dem majority for the first time, like, ever.

Given Bob Taft and Bob Ney, I don't see how any Republican could have won in that environment.  Actually, the Dem votes in Hamiliton and Franklin were already very high, I doubt they could have done better.

Sure, the dems cleaned up in Franklin County but turn out was abysmal.  With better turnout there, they would have done better statewide and Pryce would've gone down for sure.

Hamilton County is another story.  DeWine and Blackwell retained most GOP voters there or they lost some normally GOP voters but the Dem base didn't show up...

Hamilton County 2004

Bush: 222,616 53%
Kerry: 199,679 47%

Blackwell: 135,681  50%
Strickland: 132,462 48%

Dewine: 138,726 51%
Brown: 134,314 49%

--

Both DeWine and Blackwell have their bases in Cincinnatti.  As a result there was only a modest drop-off in the GOP percentages in the county.  This certainly made it difficult for Cranley to ride the Brown/Strickland coattails.