Pirro drops out of US Senate race

Jeanine Pirro, who had a very rough introduction to the voters with a muddled opening statement, dropped out of the NY Senate race against Hillary Clinton today.

"After weeks of pressure from her own party to drop out, Republican Jeanine Pirro abandoned her struggling campaign to unseat Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and announced Wednesday that she will run for New York attorney general instead. "I have decided that my law enforcement background better qualifies me for a race for New York State attorney general than a race for the United States Senate," Pirro, the Westchester County district attorney, said in a statement." (AP, 12/21)

Her announcement speech, back in August, went south when she lost a page of her speech and spent several seconds shuffling papers and asking aides for the text. It was all down hill from there, although I argued at the time that she *could* recover, had she taken steps to downplay and move beyond the incident. Apparently, that didn't happen, and calls from GOP leaders to drop out became overwhelming.

No campaign HAS to be doomed to failure, even after a major gaffe. But steps need to be taken IMMEDIATELY after a stumble in order to make it right with the voters. Otherwise, it can be fatal. Ms. Pirro's failure is a perfect illustration of this principle.