Yeah, we only kicked out 2 Dems in the general in AR (Lincoln) and WI (Feingold), when it should’ve been (at minimum) 4 or 5. The nominees were just inexcusably plain lousy in CO & NV, 2 easily winnable races. It’s frustrating that the Dems have routinely benefitted in Senate race sweeps against our incumbents with the national mood, while conversely we only do well when theirs retire (I estimated in 1994 had many of the Dem incumbents not retired, we probably would’ve come up short by a seat or two).
I would love for us to have a 1958-style sweep, which was the biggest single gain for either party since the popular vote was instituted, literally going from a near tie to about 1/3rd. It took 22 years for us to climb out of that hole (and 28 from the time we’d last win it until winning it again). The Dems alone took out the last 2 GOP incumbents from WV in that one election, and have never given them back.
With careful planning and recruiting starting back in the ‘90s, we need not have ever had the situations that occurred in 2000 (the tie) or the 2006/08 debacles, keeping us either at or above 60 as a cushion, so that if and when we drop 10 seats in bad cycles, we still can narrowly control that body (similar to how the Dems effectively did so with little interruption beginning in the popular era in the early 1910s clear through to today, with only the ‘20s being the only single decade we had control, with only 2 two-year (1947-49; 1953-55), 1 four-year (2003-07) and 1 six-year (1995-2001) cycles since).
We’ve been very poor at doing so, and part of it comes from erring on the side of tired old RINOs and establishment types rather than engaging a new generation of hard-charging Conservative outsiders (although conversely the outsider groups made clear-cut mistakes in recruiting or nominating badly flawed individuals) or failing to instill in popular Governors from states with Dem Senators that they should be duty-bound to step up when needed and serve in DC, even if for just a single term. The Democrats have often been better with that angle, although not always.
You didn’t mention DE along with CO and NV in talking about lousy candidates. It’s a common assumption that Castle would have beaten Coons - not so sure. But O’Donnell was at least as bad as Angle, IMO.
In 2010, most of the districts who leaned conservative, but had a Rat pretender as rep, kicked out the Rat pretender. Not all, but most. Let’s hope that the states which lean conservative decide to kick out the Rat Senate pretenders in 2012.
Obamacare forced a lot of those Rats (Nelson, e.g.) to show their liberal hands. They took a vote (some with obvious quid pro quos) they can’t disavow and made themselves sitting ducks for the GOP challenger. People in those states know for certain than even though their sitting Rat Senator claims to be moderate, they’re liberal through and through.
I’m just sorry that Manchin didn’t have to go on the record for or against Obamacare or Cap and Tax. He would have voted for them, no doubt, but not having to go on record allows him to parade around not only as a moderate, but as a conservative.
Another big disappointment in the same vein as the lack of success in Senate gains is the lack of success in House special elections. Save Djou’s win last May, when’s the last time we won a special? NY-26 made me sick.