Reader Tim S. writes:
A few precedents to Howard Dean’s collapse come to mind since the modern era of winning Presidential nominations began in 1960:
1988 (not 1984) – Gary Hart
1972 – Edmund S. Muskie
1968 – George Romney
Note that all were media-anointed front-runners who collapsed before or at the first primary. All were done in, in good part, by a single statement or action that destroyed them with voters, similar to Dr. Dean’s Iowa concession speech:
1988 – Hart challenges reporters to follow him
1972 – Muskie cries in front of the Manchester Union-Leader building
1967 – Romney states he was brainwashed about the Vietnam war.