The problem is that, in the end, even Jefferson and Mollohan, in the eyes of voters, were just part of the same problem. It basically gave voters the feeling that things were rotten in the state of Denmark, and the bums needed to be thrown out. I don't think they paid much attention to the fact that the bums were just as much their guys as our guys. That's not a media problem so much as it is the way most people will see things. The clueless middle is always going to see in overbroad stereotypes, and the fact that we were running the show, and Ney and Foley did their things, killed us.
To add to your comment, consider tonight that Menedez in New Jersey survived tonight despite his storied past of corruption and being under federal criminal probe now, but Dewine who was squeaky clean (forget about him being a moderate to see the point I'm making here) was turned out of office because as most pundits agree he was liked, but Ohio wanted to punish him for Gov. Bob Taft's sins (4 misdemeanors including not reporting sport's tickets). So the people of NJ rewarded corruption and the people of Ohio punished a guy who was clean because of someone else's corruption.
Tell me this country hasn't been totally brainwashed into irrationality by an agendized, massive propaganda machine known as the US news media. The fact they reward a corrupt senator and kill off a clean one tells me this country has slid into utter dysfunction.