A Brief History of the October Surprise

An October surprise is any bit of news that breaks right before an election that has the capability to help determine the outcome of the race. Since voters are often swayed by these revelations, the right October surprise can swing a losing campaign right into White House. Although we haven’t seen such a story break this year, they’ve profoundly impacted past elections. Here are a few notable ones: 1968: LBJ calls off the bombs. The 1968 race between Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey looked like it would be an electoral rout. Nixon successfully ferreted away Southern Democrats who weren’t too keen on Humphrey’s support of civil rights, and liberal Democrats were disgusted with Democratic incumbent Lyndon Johnson’s handling of the Vietnam War. Furthermore, third-party candidate George Wallace eroded some of the historical... [read full story]