With the ‘wins’ of Bennett and Murray, we only ended up beating 2 Senate incumbents. Russ and Blanche. It was no 1980.
Rat incumbent Senators remain almost impossible to beat. Some more would have lost if they hadn’t retired, lost the primary, or stole the election (see Johnson, Tim 2002), but...
2010 2
2008 0
2006 0
2004 1
2002 2 (1 of them appointed)
2000 1
1998 1
1996 0
1994 2
1992 2
1990 0
1988 1
1986 1
1984 1
1982 1
1980 9
Will 12’ be the year to crack 2?
Some of it is because of which states had ‘Rat Senators. A lot of urban states with large liberal constituancies, like New York, Washington state, and California are examples of this.
In a way, we’ve reverted to the red vs. blue electoral maps of the Bush campaigns (regardless of which color one prefers to apply). This election was more about restoring balance and common sense than it was about Republican revival. One should note that a large number of the ‘Rat casualties were of the Classes of 2006 and 2008, often in districts that had supported John McCain and George W. Bush.