# Which Presidential Candidates Have Been Killed in the Primaries by One Specfic Event?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [May 3, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179 "2015-05-03T21:39:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/1 "2015-05-03T21:39:48Z")

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While most Presidential candidates have lost in the primaries because of a large number of factors, which of them do you associate their loss with one event?

For example to me what comes to mind are George Romney being brainwashed about Vietnam, Gary Hart’s hanky panky, and now Cristie’s Bridgegate. Anyone agree or disagree with these and have any additional candidates? Perhaps Muskie crying?

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**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/2 "2015-05-03T21:40:57Z")

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RFK due to Sirhan Sirhan I realize that’s a horrible joke

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**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/3 "2015-05-03T21:44:56Z")

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True or not, Gore with hanging chads. That’s how a lot of people would respond, I think.

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**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/4 "2015-05-03T21:48:37Z")

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> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#):
>
> True or not, Gore with hanging chads. That’s how a lot of people would respond, I think.

The operative word is primaries.

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**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/5 "2015-05-03T21:48:49Z")

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Dean’s scream, which was vastly misreported.

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**Author:** ![Ambrosio\_Spinola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Ambrosio\_Spinola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambrosio_Spinola)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/6 "2015-05-03T21:52:19Z")

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Rick Perry and “oops”.

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**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/7 "2015-05-03T22:46:12Z")

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Gary Hart.

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**Author:** ![Haberdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Haberdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haberdash)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/8 "2015-05-03T23:00:15Z")

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> [@Frank](#):
>
> Dean’s scream, which was vastly misreported.

Dean won a single primary – his home state, and only because John Edwards didn’t bother to qualify for the ballot – and never broke 30% anywhere else in 16 tries. He was never going to win, and the idea that someone “misreported” his scream (by showing a video clip of it) to sink his candidacy is basically a conspiracy theory.

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**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/9 "2015-05-03T23:05:22Z")

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> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#):
>
> The operative word is primaries.

Oh sorry, I didn’t read carefully enough.

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**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/10 "2015-05-03T23:40:19Z")

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> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#):
>
> RFK due to Sirhan Sirhan I realize that’s a horrible joke

Too soon!

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/11 "2015-05-03T23:59:20Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> I realize that’s a horrible joke

Maybe so, but I was coming in to make it myself. We’re going to hell together, Qin!

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**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/12 "2015-05-04T00:05:49Z")

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> [@Haberdash](#):
>
> Dean won a single primary – his home state, and only because John Edwards didn’t bother to qualify for the ballot – and never broke 30% anywhere else in 16 tries. He was never going to win, and the idea that someone “misreported” his scream (by showing a video clip of it) to sink his candidacy is basically a conspiracy theory.

Yeah, he was already going down, the whole brouhaha about “the scream” was just a pile-on for the sake of ridiculing him. Had he been winning convincingly that night nobody would have cared if he screamed or grunted or whistled.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/13 "2015-05-04T00:07:33Z")

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> [@Frank](#):
>
> Dean’s scream, which was vastly misreported.

I agree that it was vastly misreported, but he was on the decline already. It seems like he was a media darling, and there was a reluctance to let him go, but he was “gone” before The Scream.

OP: You might want to ask a mod to change “killed” in your thread title to something less confusing.

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/14 "2015-05-04T01:15:11Z")

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Ed Muskie crying over the abuse his wife was receiving from the always-execrable Manchester Union-Leader.

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**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/15 "2015-05-04T01:45:11Z")

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1987: Video surfaces showing Joe Biden’s stump speech, including comments about his family history, had been lifted from British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/16 "2015-05-04T03:18:59Z")

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Jesse Jackson referred to New York City as “Hymietown” during his 1984 presidential run. His campaign never recovered.

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/17 "2015-05-04T04:42:08Z")

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It can be hard to measure such things. I think if Clinton had edged out Obama, we’d be focused on his “bitter clinging” comment.

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/18 "2015-05-04T17:53:37Z")

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Hell, that probably \*helped \*him.

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**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/19 "2015-05-04T18:17:35Z")

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How about Gerry Ford claiming that Eastern Europe (or was it Poland specifically?) was NOT dominated by the Soviet Union?

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**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/20 "2015-05-04T18:37:15Z")

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> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> How about Gerry Ford claiming that Eastern Europe (or was it Poland specifically?) was NOT dominated by the Soviet Union?

Except that was the general campaign, not the primaries.

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