What the heck is the October Surprise?

One of them is N. Korea testing a nuke weapon.

hold please....An October surprise is American political jargon describing a stunning news event with the potential to influence the outcome of an election, particularly one for the presidency. It is so called because Election Day in the U.S. is the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and events shortly before the election have greater potential to swing votes. Most of the time, the term is used to label actions of a sitting president, especially with regard to military or foreign policy matters, but it can also apply to news stories unfavorable to the incumbent administration. "Historically, news outlets avoid investigative pieces critical of candidates within days of an election to avoid appearing partisan." [1] Particularly since the 1980 election, the term has been pre-emptively used to discredit late-campaign news by one side or the other.

October surprise conspiracy

During the Iran hostage crisis, the Republican challenger Ronald Reagan feared a last-minute deal to release the hostages, which would hand incumbent Jimmy Carter a goodwill vote winning the election.

Due to the release of the hostages at the precise moment of Reagan's inauguration on January 20, 1981, rumors surfaced that the Reagan campaign made a "secret hostage deal with the Iranian government" whereby the Iranians would hold the hostages until Reagan was inaugurated, ensuring that Carter would lose the election. Two separate congressional investigations as well as several investigave journalists looked into the charges, both concluding evidence was insufficient.

Three books, all titled October Surprise are major sources detailing the allegations by senior Carter and Reagan staffs (Gary Sick, Barbara Hoeneger) and Robert Parry (an investigative journalist).

The term was originally coined by Dubya's dad in a Vice Presidential debate. He suggested Carter was withholding good news in the Iran hostage crisis until close to the presidential election.

After that, Gary Sick (National Security Adviser for Nixon and Carter) wrote a book titled October Surprise. His hypothesis was that the Reagan campaign team negotiated with the Ayatollah to hold the hostages until after the election.

The idea is to have a major event that benefits your candidate occur close enough to the election to disallow your opponent's recovery.

Since then, expectations of an October surprise seem to come up every 2 years.

Incidently, Sick's book is very compelling. I recommend it.

The October Surprise will be a stunt pulled by the Republipukes to help them get elected in the November mid-term elections. Smart money says it will be the capture of bin Laden or finding his body. Hopefully, the American people won't be so stupid as to fall for that little stunt - but they did vote Bush into office in 2004 after he stole it in 2000.

The October Surprise is an event that is orchistrated in an attempt to manipulate US elections. Today NK appears to have tested a nuclear weapon. That probably counts as an October Surprise....

Planned political surprise scheduled in the October before an election to embarrass the opposition.

Osama bin Laden CAUGHT

Terrorist attack in Washington