Politics is Full of Surprises—and Errors In politics, an “October surprise” is an event so significant that it may change the outcome of the November election, especially for a presidential candidate.

No other televised presidential debate in American history has ever been so pivotal. Much has been made of the first Kennedy-Nixon debate of 1960, but Nixon still managed to hold his own in three ...

Sept. 30, 2004 — -- After Ronald Reagan's poor performance and questionable command of the facts in his first presidential debate against Walter Mondale in 1984, critics wondered if age was ...