Who should have easily won but ended up blowing it?

[Sumner 1868]

The question ask that we decide which losing candidate "blew it," but I would actually argue that Clinton in 1996 tanked the most relative to circumstances even though he won. A major speculative bubble forming, no foreign policy crises or controversies and a loathed right-wing House Speaker all resulting in him polling constant double-digit leads... and he gets just 49% of the vote. And turnout was the worst in any presidential election ever. And the Republican Party, seemingly on the run after the government shutdown, maintained their majority in the House and gained in the Senate? 1996 was about as pyrrhic a victory as you can get.

It's not hard to see why. Clinton's reelection campaign, shaped by quack-pollster Mark Penn, was probably the most banal in American history. He blew cash on ads about the V-Chip and school uniforms! Even more ridiculous, DNC leader Donald Fowler ordered that no funds would go into congressional races or voter registration because it would take cash from Clinton! No wonder the GOP held Congress (which, ironically, guaranteed his impeachment).