The Globe and Mail

The Dean Scream

At a rally during the 2004 U.S. presidential primaries, the Democrat emitted a red-faced, vein-popping yelp – dubbed the Dean Scream – that was replayed hundreds of times on cable and broadcast news shows, inspired a series of mashups and killed his up-and-comer status.

'A sort of bigoted woman'

Gordon Brown, then-leader of the British Labour Party, had none of the charisma of his predecessor Tony Blair, and proved it during the 2010 campaign when a live mic caught him calling the voter he’d just glad-handed a “bigoted woman.”

The flip-flopping candidate

In early 2004, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry was already being defined as a flip-flopper by his Republican rivals. Then, while on the hustings in West Virginia, he tried to explain the nuances behind his waffling support for the Iraq war: "I actually did vote for the $87-billion, before I voted against it." The sound bite was devastating to his campaign.

'You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska'

Having failed to gain sufficient speed in his campaign, Republican presidential nominee John McCain and his strategists turned to unknown Alaskan governor Sarah Palin for help. At first, she seemed like a golden running mate next to Mr. McCain, who had yet to secure the Republican base. But soon after her debut at the Republican National Convention, a series of interviews helped paint Ms. Palin as a confused fish-out-of-water, whose scant knowledge of foreign affairs and unusual interpretation of the English language (later dubbed "Palinisms") defined the McCain-Palin ticket.

While it's difficult to pinpoint a single gaffe among the deluge, the most memorable might be her contention that her foreign policy experience is bolstered by Alaska's proximity to Russia.

One word: oops

When he announced his bid for the presidency, Texas governor Rick Perry had all the makings of a successful nominee. A socially conservative politician from the South, he was heralded as the answer to Republican prayers. Then he opened his mouth. His campaigned was quickly derailed by a litany of goofs and gaffes, none more damaging than the "oops" moment: Perry forgot the third government agency he would eliminate if elected and stammered for several awkward moments in a vain attempt to remember. (It was the Department of Energy.) He capped off his answer by saying, quite sheepishly, "Oops."

Unlike his previous debate flops (his bungled attack on Romney's flip-flopping positions was bad, but not damingly so) he couldn't recover from this one. His campaign lost steam and he dropped out of the race on Jan. 19, 2012.