There is an old saying in politics in Britain and Ireland : 'Oppositions don't win elections; governments lose them'. Has this been true of American politics ? Have Presidents or parties lost because they were perceived as failing; that there is a natural tendency against change which keeps them in power, regardless of the opposition, in the absence of some real or perceived disastrous events during their term ?

For the US, the advent of television changed the way we campaign. Kennedy was probably the first president elected in part for his public image. From that time on, the image of the candidates gets more and more priority in campaigns because it is more immediately believable to the voters who mostly don't research their candidate's policies or platforms.

I think that is equally true in this country. There is a definite advantage to incumbency. The incumbent is a "known" quantity and also is apt to attract more campaign financing. The result being congress men and senators who remain in office forever, until they make some stupid mistake. I suspect that if they simply stay quiet and don't attract attention to themselves, they could stay in office a long time.

mahal & frank have both made some good points. I do believe the one thing President Bush learned from the mistakes of his father's Presidency is staying on top of the public relations aspect. Something both Ronald Reagan & Bill Clinton both done quite well. President Bush, the original, didn't seem to concern himself with the public perception.

As for people in Congress, many have served for years. Mainly because they know their constieuncy pretty well and do their best to meet their needs & expectations.

Sure! The main reason Gore didn't win outright (in my opinion) is because too many people saw him and thought of Clinton, and a lot of people were fed up with Clinton's silliness and the silliness we made out of his silliness.
When I told one of my friends that I didn't think we needed another Bush in the White House, she responded that we didn't need another Clinton. Seems that she was unable to detach one politician from another.
Vote counts and chads aside, I don't think that Bush really won the election. I think that Gore lost. And I think this happened because his party had lost the faith of the people.