RE: We lost that seat because of Huckabee. He was the one that supported Akin from beginning to end. When the Democrats were spending a couple million dollars to help nominate Akin, it should have been obvious to the Huckster and everyone else that Akin was a terribly flawed candidate for a statewide office.
OK, how does that explain the following:
1) Col. Allen West’s defeat in Florida
2) Michelle Bachmann’s near-death experience win in Minnesota
3) Mia Love’s defeat in Utah
If anything it was because the GOP backed away from Akin, instead of fighting with the army they had.
It doesn't explain any of those things. I was simply pointing out that Huckabee was largely responsible for costing us a Senate seat in a state we should easily have won. Akin was a horrible statewide candidate - and Huckabee backed him from the beginning. There was a good reason the Democrats poured millions of dollars into the GOP primary to help nominate him.
Those races you list all had their own unique set of circumstances. West was in a newly drawn district, Bachman probably alienated some voters by focusing on her presidential run, etc. Saying that, you won't hear me claiming that just running as a solid conservative is automatically a winner. It's not. There is a reason politicians tend to "moderate" and move to the center for general elections. It works, and politicians on both sides know it.
There are multiple reasons and each race is different but here is one common element on those three:
They all “went national” and the local people (voters) paid them back for it.
Even Mia Love was campaigning in Ohio in October.