Political Blunders of 2008: McCain's Suspended Campaign, More Top List

As 2008 draws to a close, it's a good time for looking back and trying to learn from one's mistakes. This is as true for the politicians responsible for 2008's top five political blunders as it is for anyone else. Here are five screw-ups that will have politicians crying into their holiday-season beer:

5. Rudy Giuliani Sits Out Iowa and New Hampshire:

Throughout 2007, Rudy Giuliani was considered one of the favorites for the Republican presidential nomination. He had money, name recognition, decent poll numbers, and favorable press. Then he decided to fritter these advantages away by sitting out the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary and other early contests. His decision to wait until the Florida primary to compete seriously for delegates was based on his staff's preconceived notion that Rudy was not conservative enough for the GOP electorate in the earliest contests; it must have been a shock to him when the GOP's most "liberal" candidate, John McCain, emerged from New Hampshire with the all-important momentum. Waiting for Florida turned Rudy's campaign into a punch line, and America's Mayor ended up with fewer votes and delegates than Ron Paul.

4. GOP Conservatives Back the Fred Thompson Run:

Conservative activists entered the 2008 primary season without an obvious candidate to back. John McCain was a pariah among conservatives based on previous acts of apostasy like his infamous 2008 denunciation of religious right leaders. Mike Huckabee was seen as a populist liberal on economic issues. Mitt Romney's conservative credentials were doubted by many, as a result of past flip-flopping - and many evangelical conservatives were hesitant to support a Mormon candidate. Rudy Giuliani was a question mark on issues important to social conservatives. Sam Brownback's campaign never really took off. Movement conservatives hoped that Fred Thompson would be the Reaganesque candidate they were looking for - but Fred turned out to be an inept and lackadaisical campaigner, and Fred's presence in the early contests helped to split the conservative vote among enough candidates ended up chiefly benefiting John McCain. Riding Fred Thompson through the primaries gave the conservative base the nominee they had wanted the least.

3. Elliot Spitzer Fails to Practice What He Preaches:

Elliot Spitzer made a name for himself as a crusading prosecutor taking on New York City's white collar criminals and organized crime. The New York governor was widely seen by Democrats as a potential future candidate for national office. The March 2008 revelation that the New York governor had repeatedly utilized the services of a high-end escort service brought those hopes crashing down and highlighted a lesson not just for 2008 but for all years: when you base your political career on a reputation as a straight arrow, you have to walk the walk.

2. Hillary Clinton Bets It All on the Big States:

Hillary Clinton was the presumptive nominee for President of the Democratic Party when she began her campaign. She raised big money, and had deep support within the state party apparatus of most of the largest and most delegate-rich states. Her campaign stuff assured her that would be enough to win. Barack Obama ran a 50-state campaign, picking up delegates in smaller contests and in sparsely-attended caucus states, offsetting Hillary's big-state advantages and winning a war of attrition for the nomination. [Mistake 2b: Statements by Clinton campaign insiders implying that the smaller states shouldn't matter, and that Hillary's big-state victories entitled her to the nomination even if she ended up with fewer delegates going into the convention, fed into existing narratives about Clintonian arrogance and ruthlessness and compounded the initial mistake.]

And the number 1 political blunder of 2008 -

1. John McCain Suspends His Campaign and Flies to Washington to Support the TARP Bailout Plan:

On the heels of the Republican convention and the selection of Sarah Palin as the GOP's vice-Presidential candidate, the McCain campaign was bouncing in the polls and gaining some much-needed confidence going into the campaign's home stretch. That post-convention momentum was squandered by McCain's bizarre announcement that he was suspending his campaign to return to Washington to try to force Treasury Secretary Paulsen's stalled Troubled Asset Relief Program through the Congress. This decision exposed the candidate to hostile mockery in the press and on late-night comedy shows [it didn't help matters that McCain cancelled a scheduled appearance on David Letterman's show as part of his campaign "suspension"], broke the campaign's stride, and enraged a GOP base that was largely against a bailout of Wall Street. It was all for naught: voters concerned about the economy ended up supporting Barack Obama in droves despite McCain's grandstanding.