Winning the Campaign

During the WA election coverage last night several pundits proclaimed that Mark McGowan had won the campaign but had lost the election.

What the?

Isn't the test of winning an election campaign, winning the actual election, or at least the popular vote?  So I could grant Kim Beazley the title of winning the campaign in 1998 even though he lost the election.  He gained a significant swing and won the popular vote.  Then again I could say that John Howard won that campaign also in that he managed to win the election despite losing the popular vote by campaigning effectively in the seats that mattered.

In the case of yesterday's election however, neither of these situations apply.  The coalition won the popular vote; the coalition won the majority of seats and the swing was to the coalition.  The coalition won the campaign and the election.

All we can really say about the Labor campaign is that the pundits liked it and probably can't understand why the Western Australians voted the way they did.  That's not really a surprise either.