These unforced errors prove it's never too early to blow a Senate race

(Image credit: (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images))

By Taegan Goddard

last updated 8 January 2015

Despite numerous attempts to forecast elections months in advance, politics remains very unpredictable.

Just this week, we've seen three major gaffes by Senate candidates that could jeopardize their chances in November.

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Said Brown: "Do I have the best credentials? Probably not. 'Cause, you know, whatever. But I have long and strong ties to this state."

In Iowa, Rep. Bruce Braley (D), who is running for Sen. Tom Harkin's (D-Iowa) seat, was secretly videotaped mocking Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in front of a group of trial lawyers, saying Harkin is "a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school."

In Kentucky, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) released an ad that mistakenly used footage of the Duke Blue Devils winning the NCAA basketball championship instead of his state's much-loved Kentucky Wildcats.

First Read points out that biggest problem for these candidates is that "each of these unforced errors reinforced a stereotype that the candidates are trying to avoid (and the opposition is trying to paint)."

"For Brown, the stereotype is that he's a bit lazy and undisciplined — and, of course, that he isn't a true Granite Stater. For Braley, the stereotype is that he's an elitist trial lawyer who doesn't understand Iowa's farming ways… And for McConnell, the stereotype is that he's gone Washington and is out of touch with Kentucky."

It's too early to predict how much damage these gaffes will cause Brown, Braley, and McConnell. But at the very least, they've given their opponents plenty of new material for campaign ads.

Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political websites. He also runs Wonk Wire and the Political Dictionary. Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and COO of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. senator and governor. Goddard is also co-author of You Won â€” Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including The Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Christian Science Monitor. Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.