Maryland’s Democrat governor complained about rejection by voters of his chosen successor in a way that could doom his presidential prospects. S.A Miller writes in the Washington Times:

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said Thursday that he’s still “seriously considering” a run for president but admitted that he was rattled when voters rejected his hand-picked Democratic successor in favor of Republican Larry Hogan.

“I can tell you my feelings were hurt,” Mr. O'Malley said in a speech at the University of Chicago, CNN reported. “We had done a lot of really good things in Maryland and in the end, you did not hear much about it during the campaign,”

American voters are not big fans of sensitive males in the Oval Office. Ask Ed Muskie, who doomed his won presidential aspirations in 1972. Larry Sabato in the Washington Post:

Angered by Manchester Union-Leader publisher William Loeb's attacks on his wife and himself, Edmund S. Muskie – then a senator from Maine and the early favorite for the Democratic presidential nod – raged against Loeb in front of the newspaper's building during a late February snowstorm. The Washington Post's David S. Broder, among many others, reported that Muskie had "tears streaming down his face," though in retrospect Broder and his colleagues acknowledge that the "tears" could have been melting snow.

Whatever the truth, these dispatches about Muskie's lack of composure damaged his stable, steady image and contributed to his poorer-than-expected showing in the New Hampshire primary. Muskie's "cry" was a signal event in his surprising decline and eventual collapse as a credible front runner.

Hat tip: Ed Lasky