Five Signs Your Campaign Is Toast
As the midterm-election season winds down and voter attitudes harden, some races are too close to call. Others are painfully easy to call—the ones where campaign headquarters seem to be emitting chaos, disarray, and sometimes outright surrender. Here is NEWSWEEK's five-step self-diagnostic manual for candidates to tell whether they're toast.
Steve Pougnet's bid to unseat Rep. Mary Bono Mack in California's 45th District has about a 3 percent chance of success, according to the FiveThirtyEight forecast. Perhaps that's why Pougnet, the Democratic mayor of Palm Springs, reportedly paid for automated telephone calls urging Republican voters to support American Independent Party candidate Bill Lussenheide. The New York Times reported that the caller identified herself as a Republican and told listeners, "It's time to show Washington what a true conservative looks like," by voting for Lussenheide over the incumbent. Pougnet isn't the only Democrat trying the strategy, essentially dedicating their own manpower and cash to other people's campaigns. In Pennsylvania, Democrat Bryan Lentz helped Tea Party candidate Jim Schneller collect enough signatures to run. And in a variation on the theme, New Jersey Rep. John Adler, who's neck and neck with Republican Jon Runyan, has been trying to discredit reports that his campaign recruited a sham third-party candidate--back when he was still ahead in the race. Desperation? NEWSWEEK says yes.
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