# Which Presidential Candidates Have Been Killed in the Primaries by One Specfic Event? **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**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 6, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/21 "2015-05-06T00:38:11Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I think if Clinton had edged out Obama, we’d be focused on his “bitter clinging” comment. Man, **adaher** can’t even resist slagging a non-existent Obama from an alternate time-line. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/22 "2015-05-06T18:57:18Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > 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. > [@](#): > > bama was caught in an uncharacteristic moment of loose language. Referring to working-class voters in old industrial towns decimated by job losses, the presidential hopeful said: “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” > > The comments were seized on by his rival for the Democratic party candidacy, Hillary Clinton, who saw in them the hope of reviving her flagging campaign by turning voters in the important Pennsylvania primary on April 22 against what she classed as Obama’s revealed “elitism”. > > “I was taken aback by the demeaning remarks Senator Obama made about people in small-town America,” she said on Saturday. “His remarks are elitist and out of touch.” Clinton campaigners in North Carolina handed out stickers saying: “I’m not bitter.” The only problem I see with his comment is possibly they word “they”. And I see nothing to indicate that it was used in an “us or them” context. It shows pretty good understanding of the root problem IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/23 "2015-05-06T19:29:47Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > 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. That’s how I remember it too. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Ed Muskie crying over the abuse his wife was receiving from the always-execrable Manchester Union-Leader. You beat me to this one. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Jesse Jackson referred to New York City as “Hymietown” during his 1984 presidential run. His campaign never recovered. He wasn’t going to win the nomination any which way, so I don’t know that it ‘killed’ him. But that aside, did it really make that much difference in how he did in subsequent primaries? ---
**Author:** ![Haberdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Haberdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haberdash)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/24 "2015-05-06T19:33:33Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > He wasn’t going to win the nomination any which way, so I don’t know that it ‘killed’ him. > > But that aside, did it really make that much difference in how he did in subsequent primaries? New York was actually one of his better performances. It probably hurt his efforts to be named Vice-Presidential candidate or influence the platform. No Democrat was going to beat Reagan in 84, it was an election about the future of the party. Jackson didn’t get what he wanted in that sense, though the path of anti-Semitism that people to the left of the Democratic mainstream are now on was certainly emboldened by the fact that nobody outside of a few Jews seemed to care about the incident. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/25 "2015-05-06T23:53:42Z")
Ted Kennedy misses it pretty close, with the Roger Mudd interview that aired during the hourlong primetime special days before Kennedy entered the primaries. “Why do you want to be President?” \ “Well, I’m . . . um.” \ “Were I to, to make the, uh, the announcement and, uh, to run, the reasons that I would run is because I have a great belief in this country. That it is. There’s more natural resources than any nation of the world…” \ (Google “kennedy” and “mudd”; page one is “The Day The Presidency Was Lost”.) ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/26 "2015-05-07T13:27:50Z")
Bob Dole didn’t help his case in 1988 when he refused to sign the No New Taxes pledge. It came up in one NH debate (that I remember) Dole winced and fumbled around, finally saying ‘Give it to George, he’ll sign anything.’ ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/27 "2015-05-07T20:00:54Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Man, **adaher** can’t even resist slagging a non-existent Obama from an alternate time-line. > > :rolleyes: I believe that his/her point was that these sorts of “your finished” moments are usually decided retroactively. Can anyone thing of a campaign where, right then & there (let’s say within a couple of weeks, max) it was obvious that this bozo was going down in flames? ---
**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 7, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/28 "2015-05-07T20:17:51Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I believe that his/her point was that these sorts of “your finished” moments are usually decided retroactively. Can anyone thing of a campaign where, right then & there (let’s say within a couple of weeks, max) it was obvious that this bozo was going down in flames? I’d say Rick Perry came close, with being unable to name the 5 Federal agencies he had claimed should be shut down, followed by “Oops.” He was an immediate laughingstock. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/29 "2015-05-07T21:16:47Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I believe that his/her point was that these sorts of “your finished” moments are usually decided retroactively. Can anyone thing of a campaign where, right then & there (let’s say within a couple of weeks, max) it was obvious that this bozo was going down in flames? Gary Hart “suspended” his campaign five days after the story about him and Donna Rice was published. Nelson Rockefeller’s divorce and remarriage were quite a controversy in 1963. By 1964, some of the uproar had died down, until Rockefeller’s wife gave birth three days before the California primary. Rockefeller, who had been leading the race, lost to Barry Goldwater. George Romney’s 1967 comment that he had been “brainwashed” about the Vietnam War caused his polling numbers to drop from 24% to 14% almost overnight, and he never recovered. Not a Presidential candidate, but Thomas Eagleton was nominated as George McGovern’s Vice Presidential running mate on July 13, 1972. Within days there were reports that Eagleton had undergone elctroshock therapy, and Eagleton was pushed off the ticket by August 1. ---
**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 7, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/30 "2015-05-07T21:20:46Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > He wasn’t going to win the nomination any which way, so I don’t know that it ‘killed’ him. > > But that aside, did it really make that much difference in how he did in subsequent primaries? I think it had a serious effect on Jackson’s political career. It separated him from his base. Jackson had been portraying himself as the political heir of Martin Luther King and the spokesman for black voters. Other candidates like Mondale and Hart were running against Jackson for the nomination but they also couldn’t afford to alienate him - at some point, they would want to make a deal with Jackson to get his endorsement. Jackson’s Hymietown remark gave everyone an opening to cut Jackson off. Other black leaders distanced themselves from Jackson after he said it. That gave other Democrats the opportunity to oppose Jackson without having to worry about a backlash among black voters. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/31 "2015-05-07T21:35:20Z")
Hymietown didn’t really kill Jackson though. He came back strong in 1988 and even had his own night at the Democratic National Convention . In fact , you could see red Jesse signs along with the blue Dukakis/Bentsen signs the first 3 days of the convention. I think Jackson is the last candidate to have supporters allowed to waive his signs during the convention. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/32 "2015-05-08T01:23:32Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I think Jackson is the last candidate to have supporters allowed to waive his signs during the convention. [Nope, it was Hillary](http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/IMG_7066.JPG). ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/33 "2015-05-08T07:35:31Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’d say Rick Perry came close, with being unable to name the 5 Federal agencies he had claimed should be shut down, followed by “Oops.” He was an immediate laughingstock. Three, sire! ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/34 "2015-05-08T13:20:31Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Nelson Rockefeller’s divorce and remarriage were quite a controversy in 1963. By 1964, some of the uproar had died down, until Rockefeller’s wife gave birth three days before the California primary. Rockefeller, who had been leading the race, lost to Barry Goldwater. I did not know about that. Although candidates were still truly chosen at the convention back then, that’s a great example. His serious contention for getting the nod went down in flames with the California primary. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/35 "2015-05-08T16:11:19Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think it had a serious effect on Jackson’s political career. > [@dalej42](#): > > Hymietown didn’t really kill Jackson though. He came back strong in 1988 and even had his own night at the Democratic National Convention. Tru dat. [In 1984](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries,_1984), Mondale got 1,606 delegates, Hart got 1,164, and Jackson got 358. [In 1988](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries,_1988), Dukakis got 1,792, Jackson got 1,023, Gore got 374, Gephardt got 137, and Paul Simon got 161. So whether or not it hurt how Jackson did the rest of the way in 1984, it didn’t hurt his political career. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/36 "2015-05-08T16:31:14Z")
It’ll be interesting to see if Jeb Bush’s comment about his brother bring his most important advisor will be the death nail for the Bush campaign. I’m sure all the other candidates are looking for ways to make him regret those words ---
**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 8, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/37 "2015-05-08T16:45:00Z")
I thought even Republicans had had enough of GW. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/38 "2015-05-08T19:31:08Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > It’ll be interesting to see if Jeb Bush’s comment about his brother bring his most important advisor will be the death nail for the Bush campaign. I’m sure all the other candidates are looking for ways to make him regret those words I’m pretty sure it was the fact that every damned one of his current advisors are people who worked for his brother pretty much sealed his fate. Especially when he was trying to claim that he was soooo different. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/39 "2015-05-08T20:13:43Z")
> [@Haberdash](#): > > …No Democrat was going to beat Reagan in 84, it was an election about the future of the party. Jackson didn’t get what he wanted in that sense, though the path of anti-Semitism that people to the left of the Democratic mainstream are now on was certainly emboldened by the fact that nobody outside of a few Jews seemed to care about the incident. A bit of a sideline to the topic, but I’ve been hearing about the “anti-Semitism of the Democrats/Left” recently. Who’s feeding you that meme? ---
**Author:** ![Haberdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Haberdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haberdash)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179/40 "2015-05-08T21:53:06Z")
How do you get “Democrats believe X” from “people to the left of Democrats believe X?” As for leftists and their attitude towards Jews, I dunno, maybe read anything ever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-presidential-candidates-have-been-killed-in-the-primaries-by-one-specfic-event/719179.md?page=3)