MSNBC has an interesting analysis of which politicians suffered the greatest political downfalls in the decade now ending.
Most of the people on the list are there because of scandals. These include the following because of sex scandals: John Edwards, Mark Sanford, Jim McGreevey, Eliot Spitzer, Larry Craig, Mark Foley, William Jefferson, and John Ensign.
Those who had financial scandal include Tom DeLay, Rod Blagojevich, and Bob Ney.
Others are on the list because their reputation declined because of electoral defeats or high ratings of negative popularity due to their governing tactics. This includes George Allen, Joe Lieberman, Rudy Giuliani, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rick Santorum, Tom Daschle, and Jon Corzine.
Note that only four of these listed above are still in elective office, and two of them–Mark Sanford and Arnold Schwarzenegger–will be out at the end of 2010.
This leaves only John Ensign and Joe Lieberman, whose Senate seats are up in 2012. It seems highly doubtful that Ensign will be able to be reelected due to his sex scandal. On the other hand, Joe Lieberman, running as an Independent, cannot be so easily read off as a loser, since he already went this route in 2006.
Yes, Lieberman has infuriated many liberals in the Democratic party, but he has been a survivor, and it is very likely that he might be the one survivor of these so called “political downfalls” who will continue to play a role in American politics with his head held high. The same cannot be said about any of the other seventeen people on the MSNBC list!