Ed Muskie in a Pantsuit?

In the tradition of hearing beautiful lines from the political pundits and elaborating on them, I'll continue with this little gem I heard today on Meet the Press.

Mike Murphy, long time Republican political consultant - and former adviser to John McCain said on the show that "If she loses here [New Hampshire], she turns into Ed Muskie in a pantsuit".

This and awesome analogy, and I'd like to comment on it.

The year was 1972. The Democratic party was hungry for a win against the lying war mongering imperial presidency of Richard M. Nixon.

The favorite for the nomination was, overwhelmingly Ed Muskie. He had been on the ticket in 1968 and with strong Democratic credentials, he assumed that it was his turn to be at the top of the ticket.

The primary system was in its infancy, and he had never competed in one.

A dark horse candidate by the name of George McGovern, Senator from South Dakota, challenged him in Iowa and lost to Muskie. They then went on to New Hampshire and Muskie won there as well, but by a very small margin.

Muskie was so surprised by the enthusiasm of the McGovern campaign that his effort dissolved quickly thereafter.

Muskie was never heard from again in a major race in the National Democratic party.