"The expectation bar keeps getting higher and higher until, finally, you can't beat it," he said.

"The expectations bar is very low."

A win in either the Rust Belt bellwether or the Evangelical redoubt would vault Romney over the expectations bar.

Property Council of Australia (Vic) presentation - by Malcolm Snow The tendering process is continually lifting the expectation bar for development outcomes.

So in a pseudo-scientific attempt to set the expectations bar, we sent six pollsters armed with clipboards and stacks of surveys to the welcoming party for the press Saturday night.

Setting an exceptionally high expectations bar, analysts like Mr. Hayes had said earlier that they were looking for Mr. Romney to come in 15 to 20 points ahead of his rivals.

"We've got to now govern and we've got to govern on some very difficult issues in a very difficult time, and the expectation bar set by the people last night is very high."

Lagos points out that any President would find it hard to deal with the current wave of discontent — precisely because, since Chile is more developed than most Latin American countries, the expectations bar is higher.

But having set the expectation bar so high in the past, his claims that everything is on track, that his game, as well as his reputation, is now out of rehab, will not be believed until he gets himself back in he winner’s circle.