Has McCain run the worst campaign any Republican has ever run in a GE?

[WI_DEM]

seriously. At least since Goldwater.

[FSogol]

1. Dole/Kemp was pretty pathetic. n/t

[WI_DEM]

5. But not as inept as this. Kemp at least was a credible choice for running mate.

[bunkerbuster1]

10. Dole's was a model of efficiency by comparison.

And yeah, there wasn't a soul out there who didn't seem Kemp as qualified, at least.

[Not the Only One]

8. There wasn't anything Dole could have possibly done to win in 1996

52% job approval was Clinton's low-water mark that campaign season.

[47of74]

9. Dole and Kemp didn't crawl into the sewer like McCain and Palin have

It was 12 years ago, it wasn't a hotly contested campaign, and I was in my first semester at a new college, so my memories about the '96 race itself aren't all that great, but it didn't seem to me like Dole and Kemp crawled into the sewer like McCain and Palin have, even when it was increasingly evident that things weren't going their way. Then again they may have had the intestinal fortitude to recognize that early and make the decision that they were not going to make fools of themselves by doing the crap that McCain and Palin are doing today.

[Not the Only One]

2. McCain's run a great campaign

He should be losing by 20 points, based on Bush's record, the economy, etc. It's amazing that there are any polls showing him within striking distance (and there are).

[Crankie Avalon]

7. Hear, hear...

...you beat me to it. This should be 65-35 instead of the 53-47 it seems to be.

[Maccagirl]

11. I still believe that at least 1/2 of McCain's "support" isn't

support at all-it's an anti-Obama vote-and since Obama doesn't have a character problem it can only be one thing-race.

[robcon]

3. Bob Dole: it's not even close.

Dole didn't even try, IMO.

[Crazy Dave]

4. Bob Dole '96

379 to 159 electoral votes was a slaughter.

[WI_DEM]

6. Yes, but he was also up against a popular incumbent president

[blm]

12. McCain's campaign is even worse than Bush1's, except Poppy WANTED to lose because he expected

to be impeached after the BCCI report's release in Dec 1992 - the hearings and impeachment would have exposed Bush and his powerful cronies in a high profile way. Not to worry, Poppy's longtime friend and BCCI operative Jackson Stephens, had HIS boy in Arkansas set and ready to go. Bush and his cronies in their various illegal operations would be protected from scrutiny throughout the 90s, thanks to Jackson Stephens and Bill Clinton.

It's amazing that ANY Republican nominee could blow up his campaign accidently as bad as Poppy Bush did deliberately, yet, McCain is doing exactly that.