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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom/8145350984/sizes/z/in/photostream/">Barack Obama</a>/Flickr Get your news from a source that’s not owned and

controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free _Mother Jones Daily_. A few months back, the _New York Times_‘ statistics guru Nate Silver made an observation: “The phrase ‘game changer’ has

been used 2,870 times in news outlets over the past 30 days.” That was in July, before the debates, 47 percent, and about three dozen-over-caffeinated _Drudge Report_ headlines. When I did

the same search on Thursday, I found 19,600 results, which, all things considered, seems a bit low. Since the phrase entered the Pantheon of Political Cliches™ four years ago, the term has

become so ubiquitous a crutch for political pundits that it officially entered the _Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary_ earlier this year. Here is a list of every event in the last 10

months that has been labeled a game-changer in the presidential race: > Cars. Sandy’s arrival. Chris Christie. President Obama’s > divorce papers. Donald Trump’s challenge to Obama. 

The first > debate. Fox News report on CIA’s request for military backup in > Benghazi. Pennsylvania. Romney’s tax plan. Arizona’s birther > law. The revelation that President Obama

 is not very good at > basketball. Lindsay Lohan’s Romney endorsement. The second > debate. Paul Ryan. Those Sarah Silverman GOTV videos. Jobs. Paul > Ryan’s Medicare plan. That 

_Daily Caller_ video. DHS immigration > directive. A hypothetical Romney pledge to only serve one term. > Romney’s VMI speech. _Dreams From My Real Father_. A hypothetical > joint 

US–Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. A > hypothetical debate question about why Obama didn’t dispatch F-16s > to Benghazi. The youth vote. Conservative turnout in Cuyahoga

> County, Ohio. Ohio. The entire election. The Osama Bin Laden raid. > A book about the Osama Bin Laden raid. A hypothetical McCain vice > presidency. The Benghazi cover-up. A new 

book from _WorldNetDaily_. > A hypothetical question about Simpson–Bowles. First-time > Puerto Rican voters. Latinos. Asian-Americans. The 47 percent tape. > Paul Ryan’s “makers and

 takers” riff. Suburban women. October > jobs report. September jobs report. Democrats’ ground game. > Obama’s tech operation. James O’Keefe’s voter fraud sting. > Gallup early 

voting poll. October 27 Gallup tracking poll. Gloria > Allred. The Walker recall. Paul Ryan’s interview with > WJRT-TV, Flint. January jobs report. The _Des Moines Register_ > 

endorsement. Ann Romney’s RNC speech. Paul Ryan’s VP speech. > Mitt Romney’s RNC speech. Dick Morris’ television ad (as > reported by Dick Morris). Middle East chaos. Todd Akin. > 

Bill Clinton’s DNC speech. Obama’s gay marriage endorsement. > Ladies. Virgil Goode. Obama’s voter registration figures. Dinesh > D’Souza’s movie. 1998 video of Obama making case for

> progressivism. _Boston Globe_‘s Bain story. Hypothetical release > of Romney tax returns from hackers who demanded ransom payment in > Bitcoins. The status quo. Not everything can

be a game-changer, though. In some cases, pundits have concluded that an event that might have become a game-changer was not, in fact, a game-changer. Note that some events appear in both

categories: > The first debate. The second debate. The third debate. The vice > presidential debate. _Fisher v. University of Texas_. Yawning. > October jobs report. Richard 

Mourdock’s rape comment. Colorado’s > marijuana initiative. Celebrity endorsers. Colin Powell. > Ann Romney’s RNC speech. Benghazi. Ross Perot. Paul Ryan. > The Osama Bin Laden 

raid. Roseanne Barr’s television ad. > Obama’s DNC speech. Michael Bloomberg. Dinesh D’Souza’s > movie. That _Daily Caller_ video. The moral of the story is that we’re still really bad

at predicting the future.