I was in the same boat for some time with Al Gore, Jr. back when this state had a weak GOP (first as an adjacent district Congressman, then as Senator). However, I also rightly predicted when he got the nomination for President that he would fail to carry Tennessee (as the state had finally tired of his antics as VP and move to the ultraleft after he had bamboozled the state claiming to be a “moderate”).
The irony that he was so arrogant he took TN for granted and went elsewhere to pick up support isn’t lost. If he carried the state, all the FL stuff and everything else wouldn’t have mattered. I still remember Election Night 2000 and he was having his shindig outside here in downtown Nashville and we had some nasty t-storms come through shutting down the festivities. It was fantastic seeing him lose.
I was an inmate of the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts at the time and had to endure a barrage of "Selected not Elected" bullcrap for weeks. I finally got fed up and told one of my superiors in the lab
"You do realize that your entire argument is based on the assumption that people who are likely to vote for your candidate are just too stupid to know how to vote?"
I think I actually watched her brain throw a rod.