1) Blackwell got creamed solely because of Taft. I think no matter how good a guy he was, or even if he offered better ideas (and many of them just never got out), he had no chance because Taft raised taxes, was involved in scandal, and was viewed as a job killer. Ken did not run, really, against Taft, and maybe that's the only way he could have won. Note that most of our state officers got killed, too---commissioners, etc. Betty Montgomery won, but she had an office that fit her, and good GOP support. A couple of well-entrenched OSC judges won.
2) A second election was the national senate election. Here, while you are right that we have to see how the data turns out, I'll bet DeWine lost a lot of R votes. We know for sure the Rs turned out in record numbers---I don't yet know the turnout for the Ds. But I think DeWine got both the anti-Bush leftist vote and the hard-core conservative backlash for ANWR and his "gang of 14." While many stated they held their noses and voted for him, I'm wondering if many didn't.
3) The Congressional seats. In retrospect, this is surprising. The "conventional wisdom" was that if CT, NY, and IN Republicans fell, the Ohio delegation would be wiped out. But Chabot, Boehner, Hobson, Turner, Schmidt all won (I think Pryce won too). Most of these people were right on amnesty, right on ANWR, right on the war, etc.
Just a consideration.