The danger of misplaced modifiers

[qatarperegrine]

CNN's front page currently has a sentence that makes me cry inside:

"Though previously Democratic, McCain's supporters see Pennsylvania as a potential swing state with just six days to go."

McCain's supporters are previously Democratic???

And, Pennsylvania is a state with just six days to go? What will it be after then??

I am secretly posting this, not because I think you're interested, but so I have access to this sentence next time I try to convince a student that misplaced modifiers are a bad idea.

Comments

Re: as it was before, so it shall be again

[stepleton.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that commonwealths are just states that choose to call themselves commonwealths.