Sharon Angle WAS electable, she simply made too many mistakes against a well-oiled democratic machine. Appealing to hispanic voters by telling them they look asian was probably just the last straw.
O’Donnell never had a chance, both because of her lack of any experience at all, and her inability to stand up to scrutiny, defend herself, and articulate a message. Which was wierd because she was a great speaker, she just didn’t speak the message.
When your first words to introduce yourself to the general election audience is “I am not a witch”, you have already lost the race. (I know, Nixon managed to come back after his “I am not a crook” speech, but that wasn’t a campaign advertisement, and it took a while).
But she never had a chance. She was 16 points down before she stepped out of the gate, and then she decided to hang around in the gate for 3 weeks, collecting millions and cementing “Senator Coons” in the voter’s minds.