It’s all down to Axelrod’s political analysis. He’s their Karl Rove. If they follow his advice, they pull the trigger.
I think it will come down to the judgment of a few Rat senators, whether they agree with Axelrod.
As for House Rats who lose their seats, they will be given lucrative positions at Fannie or Freddie or SEIU or an ambassadorship or some such thing.
Here's the problem, if Rahm or Obama promises you a fat salary for one of these positions, do you believe him? First, how do you know there will be enough of those positions for all of the Reps and Sens and their staffs if 60+ of them are voted out? Second, how do you know that he's not lying to you (no honor among thieves, there're a lot of political corpses under that bus of Obama's)? Third, how do you know that you'll have that job by January 2013? Because getting voted out of office is the worst thing you can do if you want to get on those boards and blue-ribbon panels. For most of them, it's too late to resign their seat elegantly.