Albert M Gore as a control variable

Albert Gore, Jr.  of Mississippi:  40.6 percent.  (82 year old candidate who did hop and skip across the state, and at least had a sign near the polling place.)

Use Albert Gore’s percentage as a base, and we get something here for other losing candidates… who spent a lot more money and whose chances were more highly touted than Gore’s, as judged by the “Races to Watch” page found here.

Charles Summers, Maine… -9.9
Linda Lingle, Hawaii… -3.1
Todd Akin, Missouri… -1.5
Bob Kerrey, Nebraska… +1.2
Linda McMahon, Connecticut … +1.5
Connie Mack, Florida… +1.6
Richard Mourdock, Indiana… +3.7
Josh Mandel, Ohio… +4.1
Shelley Berkley, Nevada… +4.1
Tom Smith, Pennsylvania… +4.3
Denney Rehberg… +4.3
Heather Wilson, New Mexico… +4.7

I decided I’d just chop this off at the five point range.  Particularly in the South, particularly in Mississippi, noted in 2008 when the sacrificial Democratic candidate did 38.56 percent to the party’s solid attempt at winning candidate’s 45.04 percentage… meaning caring about making an attempt was worth all of 6.42 percentage points, there’s a lack of fungibility with the percentages.  Obviously Akin came closer to winning than Gore… kind of.  Interesting to see how a potted plant might have done in Missouri — might have beaten McCaskill.

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