The 5 worst starts to presidential campaign

Newt Gingrich’s bid for the White House has already hit a major snag. Gingrich shouldn’t worry too much, though. He has a lot of good company.

Gingrich recently apologized to Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan for his remarks about Ryan’s Medicare proposal on “Meet the Press.”

The former House speaker is certainly not alone in launching his campaign with fizzle rather than sizzle. Here are a few other presidential candidates who blundered:

1. Ford takes his time. During the 1976 election, Gerald Ford, who had recently pardoned former President Richard Nixon, decided that rather than hitting the campaign trail as a sitting president, he’d take the “Rose Garden” approach to show himself as a tested leader. He didn’t begin actively campaigning across the country until October, and he got beaten by Jimmy Carter.

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