'Not a witch' ad top election flub of 2010

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate hopeful Christine O'Donnell's ad declaring she is "not a witch" topped The Christian Science Monitor's list of 2010 election mistakes Tuesday.

O'Donnell, the GOP Senate nominee in Delaware, produced the TV ad in response to a video clip from years earlier in which she proclaimed on Bill Maher's Politically Correct" cable show that she had "dabbled in witchcraft." The ad, which O'Donnell now says she regrets, represents a crucial mistake that could affect the outcome of the race because it extended the witchcraft theme and added to her difficulty in portraying herself as a serious contender, the Monitor said.

Kentucky's Democratic nominee for Senate, Jack Conway, may have blown any chance he had of winning when he attacked GOP opponent Rand Paul's Christian credentials with his infamous "aqua buddha" ad, which dredged up decades-old allegations of secret society antics from Paul's college days, including a prank in which Paul and his associates "kidnapped" a woman and forced her to bow down to an "aqua Buddha." Conway, the state's attorney general, suffered a spike in his disapproval ratings immediately after the ad aired, possibly sealing the deal for Paul, the online newspaper said.

Other political mistakes making the list include GOP California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's flap over an illegal immigrant housekeeper, Rhode Island Democratic gubernatorial nominee Frank Caprio telling President Obama to "shove" his endorsement, and Democrat Alex Sink, who is running for governor of Florida, breaking the rules of a debate by receiving a text message during a faceoff with her opponent, Rick Scott.