Why were Lake and Oz considered weak candidates?

[The Economy is Getting Worse]

Lake outperformed Masters by 4 points, and Oz outperformed Mastriano by 10. These are not small outperformances in swing states. I bet most people were initially optimistic on Oz when the initial returns saw him outperforming Mastriano by 10 points.

[The Economy is Getting Worse]

Let’s see. Oz looks like a cardboard cutout that can’t even (convincingly) project basic human emotions like empathy, was literally accused of torturing and killing dogs, carpetbagged to a state which was an awful fit for his background/type of politics, had a history of being a snake oil salesman who’d probably sell his mother for more $$$, and pandered to the Republican base in a hilariously and transparently inauthentic manner.

I mean, maybe that had something to do with it.

Oz was supposedly perceived as moderate, making him outrun Mastriano by 10 points. He was like Romney in a sense of being a out of touch elitist who lacks empathy, but moderate.