…is fun to read once you understand the “charisma theory”. Paul Graham’s excellent essay on charisma is worth reading just for the description of how shallow most election analysis is. 

With regard to Scott Brown’s election, I’ve heard the following explanations:

• Democrats were too Liberal
• Democrats were not Liberal enough.
• The economy is bad, so voters took it out on Coakley.
• Americans are making a stand against Socialism!
• Coakley ran a bad campaign.

The last is true, but the reason it was a bad campaign is because when you’re that uncharismatic everything you do seems to suck.

The charisma gap is, I’m convinced, the sole reason for this outcome.