But the ratings quickly moved up with the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, turmoil in the Middle East, the presidential debates and, finally, into crescendo when the election fell into dispute.
By the end of the summer, with credit markets in turmoil and Democratic politicians demanding help for beleaguered homeowners, Mr Paulson had changed tack.
Egypt's democratic transition is in turmoil again as the country heads into next month's crucial election for its first president since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.
WHEN Nawaz Sharif won a landslide election victory last year, many dared hope that Pakistan was entering a new, democratic era free of turmoil on the streets and of meddling generals.
Would they send him back to face the turmoil preceding a "democratic" election, or offer him asylum in the United States?
"Brooklyn is in turmoil, and other Democratic organizations don't have the force that they once did," Mr. Mollenkopf said.
"Tony Wheeler's Dark Lands" — a follow-up to his previous book, "Tony Wheeler's Badlands" — will be published in September and takes him to countries in turmoil like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
The dispute has thrown Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power into turmoil as US-led troops withdraw after 13 years of fighting the Taliban insurgents and with aid money to the country set to fall in coming years.
But what is significant for him about the campaign is that it shows that the ruling Croatian Democratic Union is still in turmoil after the mysterious resignation last July of Ivo Sanader, its former leader and the country's prime minister.
And yet, after a period of polling turmoil after the Democratic Convention in Charlotte, N.C., and Mitt Romney's sharp rebound after the first presidential debate in Denver, the polling in most swing states now looks a lot like it did for much of the late spring and summer.
