Well, there’s a difference between lack of success and bungle. Sometimes the cards are just stacked. For one thing, Cochran is no where near as good a campaigner as Graham. It’s not even close. His team stinks too.
And Bright did get some good early endorsements…..all gun groups but NRA, the National Republican Liberty Caucus (Cruz and Lee related group), most local TP groups in SC. But no big names would come in and endorse. Talk radio did not get involved. (rumors that LG and Laura had a thing once…)
Consider this: Bright was outspent by everyone but Dunn (who got 1%). He still doubled up his nearest competitor. With a push from talk radio or some outside money, he could have countered Grahams clever Obama Care ads, and hammered amnesty. That would have kept Graham under 50. But he had zero help from national talkers or PACs.
Graham may be a better politician than Cochran (who at this point I’m sure is senile), but Graham did have two disadvantages Cochran did not which should have made him very vulnerable, especially to someone who had a solid voting record like Bright.
1) Graham was far less popular with the state GOP than Cochran was. He had been censured several times. Meanwhile, Cochran had Haley Barbour in full campaign mode and that man carries a lot of weight in Mississippi(no pun intended)
2) Graham was a much more hated and obvious target nationally. As bad as Cochran is, he’s a quiet backbencher, and Lindsey was target #1 going into primary season.
This being said, Bright did do well with the money he did have. Though I’ll say Det Bowers was a surprise, going from 1% in the polls to what he ended up with, 7%. Mace (who was obviously the most anticipated candidate going in) failed spectacularly throughout. Totally not ready for primetime.