November Surprise

 

A November surprise is late breaking news during a political campaign, during November, with the potential to influence voters and subsequently the outcome of an election.

 

Sometimes the information has been recently discovered but often the information is identified early in the campaign and saved until the end of the campaign to prevent the candidate from having enough time to address the issue.

 

General elections are held in early November so the time to do damage control is severely limited if there is any time at all to respond.