"--Despite facing the same Democrat he faced in 2004, Gerlach was still able to largely define Lois Murphy as too liberal for the district. Fitzpatrick and Weldon never tried to define their opponents as liberals. Gerlach even ran an ad talking about Lois Murphy being supported by "some of the most radical leftwing groups in America," including Moveon.org and the Council for a Livable World. Joe Sestak and Patrick Murphy were also hugely supported by these groups, but Weldon and Fitzpatrick never made an issue out of it."
This IMHO is the #1 reason why the GOP nationally didn't do better. This was a "GIMME" issue that the GOP just left laying on the floor. The Democrat party was an is liberal and extreme on national security, on taxes and on values.
Gerlach even tied moveon.org to their antisemitic and other hatemongering. Good for him.
"-- Gerlach supported federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Fitzpatrick voted against it. This really hurt Fitzpatrick with more liberal Republicans and it took a huge issue away from Dems in Gerlach's district. I hate to say it, but this issue really hurt a lot of Republicans this year"
Er, that's becaues the very *word* "research" is a huge misnomer. Liberals win the debate when they get to define the terms. Pro-life conservatives support stem cell research, both adult stem cell and use of fetal and embryonic cells; what they oppose is 'therapeutic cloning', the specific procedure of slicing up embryos and thereby killing the embryo in order to make stem cells. I guarantee you, if the debate is pro v con on "therapeutic cloning" instead of "research" it would be a different debate.
This is something the pro-life movement will have to correct.
Your good observations are why campaigns matter.
Weldon was probably doomed after that raid, but Fitzpatrick lost in very close race and in such cases you can always point to key things that would have helped.
The GOP Congressional candidates should have been a lot more
'on the ball' in touting their strong records on the economy and GWOT, taking credit for good things they did, and cutting hte liberal Democrats no slack.
This is a key point overall.