" Earley ran a week post-convention campaign."
Well, that 'splains it .. he had five months to run his campaign ;)
Problem is, Warner had two years. I don't buy that a primary challenge does anything but hurt the candidate for the general election when the opposing candidate hasn't had a primary challenge. I could be wrong but I don't recall Warner having a primary challenge, and he was blessed with endless money to spend, had developed name ID through his Senate run, had an organization in place, and just happened to run as a Republican.
With all due respect to Mr. Fitch, he doesn't seem to stand a snowball's chance, so why weaken Kilgore for the general? What does he bring to the table? The linked article and Fitch himself seemed to give precious little information. I'd seriously like to know, as I will be voting in that primary.
Heh...I'm not sure it made a difference whether it was a week or five months. ;-)
Coop pointed out above that there was a backlash from the Gilmore Administration. Plus, you're right that Warner spent two years going around the state spending his own money.
I really do think Earley could have overcome that. But it just didn't seem like he cared.