Politicians', staffers' gaffes put on replay

The 2010 midterm elections have given new meaning to the age-old warning: What you say could come back to haunt you.

A combination of political neophytes and digital technology has made for a stream of gaffes, most of them caught on tape or camera for endless repetition. As a result, some close races for Congress or governor could tilt on stealthy opposition research, musings that were intended to remain private, and ancient admissions that have gone viral on YouTube and Twitter. "The digital revolution means everything is recordable, sortable and findable," says Joe Lockhart, a Democratic media consultant and former White House press secretary in the Clinton administration. "There's a much greater impact when you can actually see and hear somebody saying something stupid. You get moving pictures in high definition, and there's no way to wriggle out of it."