Broad and Deep: A Quick Look The GOP's Big Victory In The House

[BootinUp]

Some snippets from the article


Where Democrats were able to stave off losses in the west and northeast and even parts of the south, they were creamed by upwards of two dozen seats in states like Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, where the recession has taken a brutal toll.

Dems had a significant majority going in to yesterday's election, so the greatest losses were suffered by junior members. Most of them were fully expected. But when you lose this many seats, invariably some surprises get swept along with the tide.

Democrats fared remarkably well in North Carolina. But one -- Bob Etheridge -- was edged out by Renee Ellmers, the Republican who gained notoriety during the campaign for running an ad equating Islam and terrorism. (Etheridge's claim to fame this election season was getting caught on tape manhandling two young acolytes of Andrew Breitbart.)

The Democrats' freshman class included five progressives -- Alan Grayson, Tom Perriello, Carol Shea-Porter, Mary Jo Kilroy, and John Hall -- from competitive districts who didn't dart to the center at the first sign of danger. Their candidacies were litmus tests for whether conviction politics could help Democrats survive an anti-Democratic election. All of them lost.

read it all here: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/broad-and-deep-a-quick-look-the-gops-big-victory-in-the-house.php?ref=fpblg

[Scuba]

1. The losses by the freshmen Progressives - and Russ Feingold - are troubling.