November 4, 2009 Broadside: Lessons in losing Play video

(NECN: Jim Braude) - My favorite election surprise of last night was this one.

Do you know this man?

Of course you don't, because the cameras never covered him.

Cable talkers never talked about him.

A democrat, he took a shot at one of the biggest jobs on the political landscape, but President Obama barely mentioned his name. Democratic donors wouldn't take his calls, none of the pundits gave him a prayer.

Despite all that, William Thompson came within a whisker of unseating Michael Bloomberg, who spent 90 million dollars to be elected to a third term as New York Mayor... 150 dollars per vote ... setting a record for personal spending on an election campaign.

Okay, so Thompson fell short, and there's no ribbon for second place in elections ... but anyone who can make fools of all the pundits and give a billionaire like Bloomberg a run for his money is okay in my book.

By contrast, there's this man.

He, too finished second...

But Doug Hoffman had everything going for him.

He was the darling of Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck -- the unholy tag team of conservative talk.

Sarah Palin endorsed Hoffman ... she made phone calls for him...

But what did she see in him?

Didn't she care that he was an untested businessman with no track record in politics?

Didn't she notice he didn't even live in the district???

Did she pay attention to observers of Hoffman's ads and his debate performance

"Hoffman comes across as exceedingly weird, skinny and overeager with googly eyes, bright yellow teeth, and an odd, halting way of speaking."

And that was from a supporter!

The final act of the farce was last night. Fox News kept flashing the bulletin that Hoffman's contest was too close to call, even though he trailed by 4-5 percent hour after hour after hour... he finally conceded after midnight.

What a performance!

Still, we can be thankful to Doug Hoffman for one thing: He gave Rush, Glen and Sarah the election surprise they so richly deserved.