How the Tea Party cost Republicans the Senate

As Justin Elliott just noted, results are still outstanding in three Senate contests, but it seems likely that Democrats will end up with 53 seats -- a loss of six from their pre-election total. As rough as this is for Democrats, it could have been much, much worse. That it isn't is entirely the result of the Tea Party.



Take Delaware, where Christine O'Donnell, previously a political gadfly who had attracted little support in two other campaigns for statewide office, was propelled by Tea Party fervor to the Republican Senate nomination. The candidate she defeated, Rep. Mike Castle, had been considered a shoo-in -- by political observers, by the Republican establishment, and even by the Democratic establishment (which decided not to put much effort into the contest after Castle emerged as the likely GOP nominee -- and led Chris Coons, the unknown Democrat who claimed his party's nomination by default, by double-digits all year. Until O'Donnell emerged from nowhere to win the September 14 primary over Castle, every Senate projection map listed Delaware as a bankable pick-up for the GOP.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/2010_elections/?story=/politics/war_room/2010/11/03/tea_party