Oops: Campaign season of gaffes and gotchas

Miller, a Republican Senate hopeful from Alaska, criticized federal unemployment, health care and farm aid only to acknowledge his family has benefited from those subsidies in the past. And he's been saddled by the disclosure that as a borough attorney in 2008, he admitted to lying about improperly using government computers and was disciplined.

One of the most unschooled candidates came not from the tea party but out of nowhere.

In South Carolina, Democrats were mortified when Alvin Greene, an unemployed military veteran charged with communicating and disseminating obscene materials to a teenage college student, won the party's Senate primary.

Greene made the best of a sticky situation when confronted by reporters after a court appearance earlier this month. "The opponent started the recession!" he cried repeatedly.

He was recently seen at a state fair, making bunny ears with his fingers over a TV anchorman's head.

Associated Press writer Philip Elliott contributed to this report.