If it wasn't a signal then the people in my life couldn't have mentioned it.....or believed he was dead...and if his campaign "did well" then he wouldn't have got gotten washed after Nevada

and his heart attack wasn’t even a major issue by January.

Signals don't have to maintain relevance past whatever it is they're signaling, that's why I used the term "signals" and not "long term trends"

It had as much of an effect as Biden’s “uh uh I guess I’ll just stop talking” debate gaffe

Nobody noticed biden's debate gaffes, people DO notice when a major candidate for the US presidency has a heart attack, the media made sure of that, and impressions like that can outlast even their initial period of relevance, especially among people who aren't as obsessed with politics as we are