Thursday, September 25, 2008

Were Yesterday's Events with Obama vs. McCain Election 2008's "October Surprise" Or Is There More To Come?


From a Political History Point of View, was what happened yesterday, this Election 2008's "October Surprise" or is there more to come? Could something of this magnitude in it's dynamic makeup happen again between now and November 4th? What do you think?

Here is a snippet of Wikipedia's definiton of "October Surprise".
~LT

"Wikipedia - 'October Surprise':

"An October surprise is American political jargon describing a news event with the potential to influence the outcome of an election, particularly one for the presidency. It is so called because the presidential elections are held in early November, and therefore events that take place in October have greater potential to swing votes. "Historically, news outlets avoid investigative pieces critical of candidates within days of an election to avoid appearing partisan." [1] Particularly since the 1980 election, the term has been pre-emptively used to discredit late-campaign news by one side or the other.

"The term usually applies to the acts of a sitting president, especially in military or foreign policy matters. But it can also apply to news stories unfavorable to the incumbent administration."

Some of the examples they give are:
1968 Humphrey vs. Nixon
1972 Nixon vs. McGovern
1980 Carter vs. Reagan
1992 Bush vs. Clinton
2000 Gore vs. Bush
2003 California recall election
2004 Bush vs. Kerry
2006 midterm elections
Saddam Hussein verdict

Full definition at: wikipedia.org/OctoberSurprise

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