Clinton ’08 = Muskie ’72?
January 8, 2008 11:19 am GeneralHistory is repeating itself: Democratic candidates leading early polls have had a history of blowing up in the primaries – Dean in ’04, Gary Hart in ’88, Ted Kennedy, then Ed Muskie in ’72 (coincidentally, the Dolphins were undefeated that season, like the Patriots this year).
Hillary is heading towards being one more in a long line of early front runners, burning bright and then fading away at the polling booth.
Update: Sen. Clinton just won New Hampshire 39-37 (vs Sen. Obama), upsetting all the pollsters. I haven’t looked at the poll breakdown yet, but I heard that Hillary won conclusively with women (the tears worked?) and I wonder if many independents, considering the dem race was done & dusted, chose to vote in the republican primary instead? In any case, it’s a little early for me to eat my words… Muskie also won New Hampshire in ’72.
January 8th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
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January 8th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
To be honest, though, she was never really that much of a frontrunner except in the press. That said, she’s not necessarily out of it yet…
January 8th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Another point of comparison between her and Muskie; both were controversial for “crying”! I’d also like to point out that the Dems didn’t win in any of those years either, so hopefully your comparison isn’t too accurate.
January 8th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
jrb: Interesting, I hadn’t noticed that.
The funny thing is, in ’92 and ’76, the most recent times a new Dem president was elected, there was no Democratic frontrunner at all – Clinton came from nowhere in an election most of the bigshots didn’t want to fight, and Carter also made his name on the campaign trail.
The last Democrat to win the presidency with a national profile was Truman, maybe? (excluding LBJ because he was president when he got elected for the first time)
January 8th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
I wonder if her attempts to undercut Obama will backfire, they seemed very much like sour grapes.
At least she pays her taxes (unlike our glorious leader Bertie Ahern, how the hell is he still in office? Only in Ireland.)