Midterms 2010: Biggest Wins and Losses

Midterms 2010: Biggest Wins and Losses

Billed as the most exciting and cutthroat midterms in a long time, yesterday's election panned out essentially how the pundits said it would. The Democrat's losses were monumental, costing some serious, moderate candidates office because of the wave-style of the Republican wins.

The Democrats' Biggest Losses
The party in power barely hung onto the Senate two nights ago, and the House was cleanly called for the former minority early on. Some of the most important races for Democrats became the easiest for the Republicans to win.
Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania- Sestak is a Democratic Pennsylvanian Congressman who beat Senator Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary for Senate (Specter was a Republican senator until last year, when he switched parties). Sestak was a promising candidate who had the potential to be a real ally for President Obama in the Senate, but he was unable to win the seat.
Florida Senate- In probably one of the strangest races this year, the independent candidate- Florida Governor Charlie Christ- had a much better chance than the democrat, Kendrick Meek. Christ, though he is traditionally a Republican, would have been a much better compromiser in the Senate than the Senator-to-be, Marco Rubio. Christ is much more moderate and undeniably more ready to work with the Democrats.
The House of Representatives- The absolutely least surprising of the Democratic losses, but it is the most monumental in what it means for the entire country. This loss changes the entire leadership in the House (most notably unseating Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House) and creates a split-party majority in Congress.

The Democrats' Biggest Wins
So it wasn't the Democrats' night. However, there were some important gains and retainment of seats by the Democrats.
Harry Reid- Senator Reid faced a tough, if highly criticized, opponent in Republican Sharron Angle. Reid's win, in addition to the Democrat's recapture of the Senate, secured him the majority leader spot, the highest legislative position in the Senate.
Christine O'Donnell- The Delaware Senate race was the least surprising wins for Democrats (O'Donnell was declared the loser quickly after the polls closed in Delaware) but an important one nonetheless because of its huge national visibility, most of which can be attributed to the Saturday Night Live sketches about O'Donnell.
Barbara Boxer- In the closing weeks of the midterm campaigns, it became common knowledge that Boxer was going to have trouble winning the California Senate seat. She was facing a career businesswoman, and many in the media saw the race as a voter vindication of either politicians or businesspeople. Boxer sailed through her race on election night, however, securing one more seat for the Democratic party.

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Crist Can't Be Saved

Crist Can't Be Saved

Florida Governor Charlie Crist, formerly a hopeful and attractive GOP superstar whose name was once floated as a serious presidential contender, is the latest Republican candidate to fall victim to a tea party candidate in a Republican primary. Marco Rubio, the much younger and extremely conservative poll-leader for the Florida Senate primary, is poised to take the Republican nomination away from the popular governor. In past days, as Crist has made some vaguely moderate decisions, he was abandoned by former endorsers and his own campaign staff. Although Crist continues to narrowly lead the general poll, he may never get to run in the general; the deadline for Crist to pull out of the primary and run as an Independent, as many expect him to do, is just over a week away. It is very unlikely Crist would be able to win the Republican primary.

Other Republicans have quickly deserted Crist. Even Senator John McCain, onetime 'maverick' (although, don't forget, he never considered himself one), has said that if Crist runs as an Independent, he can consider McCain's endorsement void.
Is this what the Republican Party has become? Its viable candidates are only those like Rubio, or only those who have the momentum of the tea party behind them, and people like Crist, popular and qualified, are unelectable unless they run left in a last-ditch effort to enter the general. Limiting your electoral pool to only those who completely and totally identify with the most extreme version of your ideology is neither productive nor viable, for, eventually, your candidates will polarize so many voters that they will turn to the Democrats, whether or not they identify with the left in any way. 

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