Straight party balloting killed the GOP in NH, too. Lynch was strong at the top of the ticket and people here hated Bush so much that the NH House and Senate Dem candidates were swept in after beating long-time GOP officials of all political persuasions (from very conservative to very liberal, so there was no real rhyme or reason to booting all of them out) and it killed Bradley and Bass (Bradley, moreso). No one who studies state politics expected the landslide win for Democrats in the House and Senate, even though many believed both houses would go Dem. It was the proverbial tsunami that analysts were talking about on the national scale in congressional races that didn't exactly happen.
Were they reacting to the Christian wing of the GOP or the war in Iraq?