Smith literally had two bites at the same apple within months of each other and appeared to learn little/nothing from her first, avoidable loss, both in relatively friendly political climates.
Terry McAuliffe's problem was that he perfectly executed the wrong strategy, and in a much more hostile political climate.
As the resident Garcia staffer, for much of the campaign, it seemed like she didn't even want the job. Although that, ofc, was a disaster for her, Mike's campaign was running top notch as far as I can tell, with an insane amount of canvassing and phonebanking being completed.
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