To people older and wiser than I, have you ever seen a late September campaign collapse like Mccain

[Politics_Guy25]

Honestly, this is about as worse as it gets. I onlu remember the 2nd Clinton campaign and the 2000/2004 races so my historic perspective is limited. Have we ever seen such a collosal implosion of a presidential nominee's campaign? Becaue make no mistake, at this hour, Mccain's campaign is in utter chaos. I guess McGovern 1972 was like this with the mentally questionable VP? But even that was in August. Not this late.

[Alexander]

1. You mean McGovern 1972? Goldwater imploded in 1964.

[WeDidIt]

Definitely McGovern in '72

Probably just as bad as McCain '08

[NMDemDist2]

2. McGovern didn't run a great campaign

but this is much much worse

[Politics_Guy25]

5. McGovern 1972-sorry lol-my bad

And edited.

[unblock]

3. it hasn't "collapsed". it's sucked fairly continuously.

and somehow the "polls" still show the race is close....

[janx]

4. I'm 50, and I'm shaking my head.

I've never seen anything like this.

[DangerDave921]

6. 1978 Red Sox

Led the Yankees by 7 1/2 games with 32 to play. Ended up losing the penant.

[Teaser]

11. Philly's was worse

:(

[trackfan]

7. This is the first one I've seen imploding to such an extent.

Mind you, I still think we're gonna lose, because in my heart I always think all things I root for will lose; however, my head tells me we're looking really good.

[izquierdista]

8. Similar to '64

But unlike now, there wasn't any doubt from the beginning that Johnson would win. I think it will end up the same as '64 though: loopy Arizona senator carries only Arizona and the Deep South. I wish I had the bumper sticker from back then:
In your guts, you know he's nuts.

[Teaser]

9. The Phold of '64

The 1964 Phillies thus began their season with modest expectations. The city was as surprised as the baseball world when the team seized first place in July and proceeded to amass a sizeable lead. Little known players like Johnny Callison, Richie Allen, Ruben Amaro, and Cookie Rojas became local heroes overnight. Manager Gene Mauch rose to deity status at the age of thirty-eight. By mid-September, the pennant was at hand, and Philadelphia glowed blissfully in anticipation of the rarest of events – a World Series appearance.

Then it all began to unravel. On September 21, the Phillies held a comfortable 6.5-game margin in the standings and faced the second-place Reds. In the sixth inning of a tie game, Cincinnati rookie Hiraldo “Chico” Ruiz inexplicably broke for home from third base with his team’s best hitter at bat. Philadelphia pitcher Art Mahaffey was spooked by the preposterous move, and threw the ball wildly. Ruiz had stolen home, scoring what proved to be the game’s only run.

The next day Ray Kelly of the Evening Bulletin wrote, “It’s one of those things that simply isn’t done. Nobody tries to steal home with a slugging great like Frank Robinson at the plate. Not in the sixth inning of a scoreless game.” He added, “Maybe that’s why Chico Ruiz got away with it.”

Locals didn’t think much of it at the time, but after Cincinnati won the next two games Philly fans began to boo the home team. A sense of doom turned to panic as the Braves came to town and swept four in a row. In seven days, the Phillies had lost seven times and fallen to second place. The city was in shock. The team went to St. Louis and lost three more, completing the most infamous ten-game losing streak in baseball history and cementing the wreckage of a once magical season. The Phillies’ fall was the steepest ever for a first place team so close to the finish line.

http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/sports/chico_ruiz.htm

[Beregond2]

10. McCain's is the worst campaign

of my lifetime, and I'm 54. It isn't just porrly run; it's literally inasane. I keep thinking I will wake up and this will have all been a dream. How did America get this crazy?

[DeschutesRiver]

14. Dup, deleted. nt

[DeschutesRiver]

15. I'm 50; dh is 54, and we've been riveted to the screen in disbelief over the McCain debacle

the deceit, the unethical behavior, that fact that the man is so much stupider than we'd thought, that he can do so very many bad moves in such short order, the recklessness, the PALIN THING, the fact that I have to hear some neighbors and freepers that can't even grasp how bad their candidates are and defend this crap (shocked too at how gullible and dumb some people are)...

Yeah, at first we said poorly run campaign, this is now going so much beyond it. Told dh that I finally get how dictatorships get started, and the thought has brought me no comfort when I watch McCain's antics. And how some people in our society give this a oomplete free pass. No, we've never seen somehing this insidiously downright evil and calculated in nature; the transparency of the bad behavior is frightening sometimes. Insane is also a great word.

OTOH, like we said over coffee this morning, damn are we living right in the middle of history in the making on multiple levels or what? Good thing we can multi-task better than McCain.

[BeyondGeography]

12. The most undisciplined Republican campaign we'll ever see...enjoy it

[zbdent]

13. 2008 Browns ...

[Waiting For Everyman]

16. I remember since Ike... nothing has been as laughable as this.

There has never been such utter absurdity, taken for being a campaign... in terms of the ticket itself, the bald-faced lies, and the ridiculous methods used.

Reagan was an empty-suit poser, but at least he was competent at playing the role of president, as an acting job.

Even Chimpie was a competent campaigner.

[CitizenLeft]

17. I was only 12, but I remember when McGovern had to...

...replace Eagleton. It was depressingly sad. Actually, that was just the last straw in a campaign that had a lot of bumps in the road. You just knew it was going to be bad.

Jimmy Carter's 1980 campaign didn't really collapse, but with the hostage crisis going on and on and on, it was like a slow leak that wouldn't stop. Or like drowning slowly. Depressing.

[regnaD kciN]

18. Wait until the debate is over before crowing too much...

If the media narrative after tonight isn't "McCain's comeback!" -- well, then you might be right. But I suspect the conventional wisdom will be that "McCain won the debate" (even if he just says "surge" for ninety minutes) and, thus, "it's even more of a horserace now!" :eyes:

[SoxFan]

19. Dukakis

the 1972 and 1964 races were never going to be close, especially after the out party nominated an ideological true believer (Goldwater, McGovern) instead of a candidate with broader appeal (Rockefeller, Muskie).

Like 2008, the 1988 campaign was close as we headed into September. Unfortunately, the Dukakis campaign did everything wrong. No rapid response, a running mate who refused to campaign north of Lubbock, a botched debate performance, and the iconic tank photo are just the most obvious problems.