http://acuf.org/issues/issue72/061117gov.asp
"It appears that the Republicans have lost their advantage on the philosophical issue of the size of government. Among the people who voted in this past election, 59% favor a smaller government with fewer services, and only 28% favor a larger government with many services. Among those who voted for a Republican for Congress, they favor smaller government by a 5-to-1 margin. However, the plurality of voters who voted Democratic also supports smaller government. In the past, these voters wouldn’t consider the Democratic Party an option."
Kind of looks to me like it was the squishy middle that elected Democrats, not conservatives nearly all of whom voted R.
The squishy middle and the hopelessly muddled put the Party of Treason in power again.
Clearly it was not the conservatives who refused to vote for Allen or Santorum or Talent or Burns. These were among the strongest conservative voices in the Senate and future leaders. Conservatives were happy with them.