The Year Of The Underdog
Posted by: Chris Emami | 08/19/2008 1:42 PM
I ran across an excellent article this afternoon when I was scanning all of the daily articles on realclearpolitics.com. It was an article on McCain in the context of him being an underdog this year. You can read the entire article here. The article actually discusses a comparison between this years Super Bowl and the 2008 Presidential Election.
I have made no secret of the fact that I am a big sports fans and so I thought of some other great sports moments that could be compared to the McCain campaign.
Kansas coming back to defeat Memphis in the NCAA Championship (Basketball)
Memphis was the favorite in this game and had a substantial lead going into the last couple of minutes. Kansas made a big run as a result of numerous mistakes from Memphis to tie the game on a last minute three-pointer.
John McCain was down pretty big to Barack Obama in the polls immediately following the primary. After numerous mistakes by Obama McCain has achieved a virtual tie in the polls. As was the case in the Kansas vs. Memphis game it would be nice to see McCain take the lead here in overtime.
Tiger Woods winning the U.S. Open with a major knee injury (Golf)
Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open with a torn ACL and a stress fracture in his left tibia. He did it in come from behind fashion and managed to shock everybody watching who could see that he was in a lot of pain. At one point one of the announcer figured that he would miss the cut and when he made it people assumed that he would withdraw because of his knee. He did not withdraw and he managed what is arguably the greates golf victory ever.
John McCain faced the issue of having an injured campaign last summer prior to the primary. People seemed to expect for his campaign to withdraw as he had very little money as well as less support amongst the voters than I am sure he would have liked. He instead continued to campaign and managed a huge comeback to win the nomination. What a difference 12 months makes.
This may very well be the year of the underdog, but if John McCain continues to perform like he did in the Saddleback forum then he will soon be the favorite in this race in terms of polling.
CATEGORY:
2008 Elections, Making of the President 2008
Mr. Ayer registered as a Republican to be electable in an interim election with no incumbents. He did...
"it would be nice to see McCain take the lead here in overtime."
I'm sure you didn't mean that. Most presidential elections don't have overtime and I'm sure you didn't mean to wish for another Bush v. Gore.
I can see where you thought that is what I meant. In reality what I am trying to say is that overtime is right now. I would like to see McCain go into election day with a huge lead in the polls. The last thing I want to see is another Bush vs. Gore disaster.
⟩⟩⟩"John McCain was down pretty big to Barack Obama in the polls immediately following the primary. After numerous mistakes by Obama, McCain has achieved a virtual tie in the polls."⟨⟨⟨
It would also be fair to claim that McCain has made numerous mistakes and gaffes during the same time period, but these have been largely ignored by a media which is hyperfocused on Obama (either because of affection for or hatred of him). Exempli gratia:
"I am interested in good relations between the United States and Russia, but in the 21st century, nations don't invade other nations."
Ummmm, yeah. I seem to recall McCain not being upset when the United States did it in 2003.