when sen. bernie sanders beat hillary clinton by 22 percentage points in new hampshire, he proved he was a serious contender <u+2014> and one with staying power <u+2014> in the democratic primary. | getty by daniel strauss 11/06/16 07:45 am est there was a script for the 2016 presidential election, and then donald trump flipped it. nearly two years ago, both parties had primary favorites: hillary clinton (by a mile) and (more narrowly) jeb bush. the two were expected to leverage massive campaign and super pac funds to push out populist primary challenges, and then fight a long-pitched battle for the white house that would serve as a rubber match between the country<u+2019>s two most prominent political families. even if bush faltered, election watchers still expected a traditional campaign, all winding down to a nail-biter race in swing states. story continued below then trump dispatched 16 republican challengers, bernie sanders wrote his name on the democratic party in permanent marker, and the primaries played out in a way nobody could have expected. what followed was a general election circus like none other in memory: two vastly different candidates struggling to get their message out, even as they were interrupted by fbi investigations, lawsuits, foreign hacks, secret audio records and controversy at every turn. here are 16 surprises that shook up the race. 1. donald trump launches his seemingly long-shot presidential bid with a speech at trump tower where he said mexico is sending drugs and rapists across the border. trump gets pummeled by critics for the comments but that doesn<u+2019>t stop his campaign<u+2019>s momentum. about a month after trump entered the race polls began to show him shooting to the head of the gop primary field. 2. at the first republican presidential primary debate, trump refuses to promise that he won<u+2019>t mount a third-party candidacy if he doesn<u+2019>t win the gop nomination. the move leads party leaders to circulate a unity pledge in which each candidate promised to support the eventual nominee, and it also sets off a primary season in which the republican national committee works to ensure trump feels he<u+2019>s being treated fairly enough by the party that he won<u+2019>t go rogue. 3. wisconsin gov. scott walker drops out of the presidential race , making him the first top-tier candidate to fold before even the iowa caucuses. walker, who many saw as a co-frontrunner with jeb bush for the nomination, lasted only 10 weeks before quitting amid cratering poll numbers and panned debate performances. 4. marco rubio, building off a strong iowa showing, heads to new hampshire with momentum. that dies at a debate when, facing rapid-fire attacks from chris christie, he repeats one answer enough time to earn the mocking moniker <u+201c>robot rubio.<u+201d> he tanks in the new hampshire primary seven days later, placing fifth with 10.6 percent of the vote. 5. sen. bernie sanders beats hillary clinton by 22 percentage points in new hampshire, proving he<u+2019>s a serious contender <u+2014> and one with staying power <u+2014> in the democratic primary. 6. onetime rival and frequent trump critic new jersey gov. chris christie endorses trump , making the unthinkable <u+2014> trump actually winning the gop nomination <u+2014> slightly more thinkable. 7. sanders wins the michigan democratic primary, scoring a shock victory against clinton by a slim margin and inserting a much-needed <u+2014> albeit temporary <u+2014> jolt into his campaign. 8. donald trump drives ted cruz out of the race after trouncing the texas senator in indiana. cruz <u+2014> who had pulled out all of the stops in indiana, including naming carly fiorina as his running mate <u+2014> dropped out of the race after losing. that day republican national committee chairman reince priebus said trump would be the <u+201c>presumptive gop nominee.<u+201d> a day later ohio gov. john kasich dropped out of the presidential race, cementing priebus<u+2019>s statement. 9. trump campaign manager corey lewandowski , at the center of controversy over accusations of manhandling then-brietbart reporter michelle fields, is fired by trump, exposing the campaign<u+2019>s internal divisions. paul manafort takes over the campaign and tries to steer it away from the <u+2018>let trump be trump<u+2019> mentality. 10. fbi director james comey announces that the bureau won<u+2019>t recommend charges against clinton over her private email server. clinton allies praise comey<u+2019>s decision, whereas trump and his allies insist it<u+2019>s a politically drive miscarriage of justice. 11. at the republican national convention in cleveland, cruz takes the stage told fellow republican to <u+201c>vote your conscience<u+201d> rather than vote for trump, capping off a convention that put the party<u+2019>s ongoing divisions on display meant to celebrate the party<u+2019>s unity around trump. instead, cruz<u+2019>s speech only highlighted the ongoing fissures within the gop. 12. wikileaks released a trove of hacked democratic national convention emails including some suggesting that chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz took steps to help clinton win the primary. the fallout from the emails forced the florida congresswoman to resign just before the democratic national convention in philadelphia began. 13. after a disastrous august for trump, clinton struggled with a pair of surprises in early september. first clinton inflamed her opponent<u+2019>s base by saying some trump supporters belong in a <u+201c>basket of deplorables.<u+201d> two days later, she was taped nearly collapsing as she got into her van leaving a sept. 11 commemoration event. the two episodes called into question whether clinton was healthy and disciplined enough to win the race. 14. video surfaces of trump during an access hollywood taping bragging about pursuing women and being able to <u+201c>grab them by the pussy<u+201d> because of his fame. trump delivers a rare public apology for the remarks. the video spurred a wave of women to come forward with allegations of sexual harassment by trump. 15. hours after the trump tape comes out, wikileaks begins publishing excerpts of clinton campaign chairman john podesta<u+2019>s hacked emails . the group, wikileaks publishing excerpts from them on a daily basis, and setting off a wave of stories regarding clinton<u+2019>s wall street speeches, her foundation and her email use while serving as secretary of state. the daily drip of podesta emails hasn<u+2019>t stopped. 16. eleven days before the election, comey again crashes the 2016 party, announced new information in the fbi<u+2019>s investigation of clinton<u+2019>s email practices <u+2014> this time due to emails discovered via an investigation into former rep. anthony weiner<u+2019>s sexting. the announcement is followed by a tightening of some polls, leaving the country to wonder if election day will witness the biggest surprise yet. by bill scher by joshua zeitz by thomas wright by jack shafer
2016 election: 16 surprises that shifted the 2016 contest - politico
daniel strauss jack shafer