[AuH2ORepublican]

“And Adam Hasner may be a solid tea-party champion in Florida, but his attempt at breaking out on the national stage has been a huge bust.”

---

To be fair, after being snubbed by the FL moneymen in the Senate race, Hasner was brave enough to switch to the FL-22 race in a district where he was pretty much the only Republican who conceivably could win, and he kept the final margin respectable despite Romney getting trounced in South Florida. I certainly would be willing to give Hasner another chance.

[BillyBoy]

>> To be fair, after being snubbed by the FL moneymen in the Senate race, Hasner was brave enough to switch to the FL-22 race in a district where he was pretty much the only Republican who conceivably could win <<

Looking back on it in hindsight, it might have been better for Hasner & West to swap districts. Hasner was running for re-election in West's old district. The district had been radically altered but West as the incumbent would have at least entered the campaign with some name ID among constituents and record in Congress that Hasner lacked. Meanwhile, if Hasner had run in FL-18, he would probably have a stronger conservative base than he had in FL-22, and his rising tea party star persona would do more to motivate conservatives to turn out. As it was, West seems to have lost the district in a squeaker due to massive fraud in Lucie County.

I think Rick Santorum & George Allen might have also made a political comeback if they had swapped states. Santorum's social conservative warrior image would play better in Virginia (where he lives anyway), whereas Allen's laidback folky football guy image would play better in Pennsylvania. He'd just need to ditch the cowboy hat.

As it stands, West & Hasner both lost, as did Allen & Santorum.