And wasn't "vote early and vote often"originally American?

Don't know. I can't find any origin of the phrase, but I am interested. In modern British politics it is associated with Northern Ireland.

the people who called the election, hoping to win, lose

We all like hubris getting its just rewards, but in many elections the time (if not the result) is fixed. In UK the current government has to call the election any time up to 5 years from the previous one. It usually ends up at about 4 years. Officially it was only the local elections that were delayed this year because of the futon mouse, but everyone knows that Tony Blair was going to hold the national election on the same day, which he has done.

Rod