I came across the word foundering in this sentence, "When Kerry's candidacy was foundering before the crucial Iowa caucuses, the arrival of the senator's former crew mates coincided with his rebound."

I wondered if they had meant "flounder," though probably not. Yet, AHD online says that it is often confused with "flounder."

It comes from a Latin word meaning "bottom." It used to mean knocking enemies down, according to this AHD site. Yet, now it means to "fail utterly or collapse." Aren't those opposite definitions?

I think that the report uses an analogy that is well-maintained in the further reference to "...the senator's former crew mates ..."

In UK English "to founder" means "to fill with water and sink" - as of a ship. It also has a secondary meaning, "to fail"

To flounder means to struggle as in mud or to perform a task badly or without knowledge.

So it would be quite possible for Kerry to flounder and then to founder!

Those metaphors aren't quite dead yet. I've got an image of the M.V. Kerry sinking to the bottom and bouncing back up to the surface.

In persuing my Britney, I flounder.
No goal, I'm told, could be unsounder.
Though it may not be right,
I looked for her each night
'Cause it's there in my dreams that I founder.

(But I'm getting ahead of myself...)

Having just found this site, I'm like a kid with a new toy. It says here,

flounder
. . .struggle clumsily, as in: I forgot my speech and had to flounder around for something to say.
founder
. . .sink, collapse, or fail completely, as in: The iceberg caused the ocean liner Titanic to founder.