"The MSM, OTOH, has shot the last of their credibility in the foot years ago and now is only operating on inertia and the ever-more-frayed patience of its investors. "
Great point. I mean, even as stupid as the Repubs are, one lesson they must take from the last election is that the MSM will distort everything to favor the Democrats (hype Foley, bury the Reid scandal, run macaca to death, etc.)
Now knowing that the media is completely corrupt, even the stupid party will adapt. And as readership plummets, perhaps the Dems are not the sure thing they think.
Our wonderful new Senator in Montana won by a half a percentage point (about 4000 votes as I recall) for exactly three reasons, IMHO:
- The state's news media (Lee Newspapers, which owns or controls most of the rags in the state) had been indulging in all-out hatchet jobs on any Pubby in sight for the past six or eight years. Burns was just the latest of a half dozen, although I'm sure he's their biggest current trophy.
- A statewide ballot initiative was launched, ostensibly to increase the minimum wage, but actually intended as ballot bait for the dims' base.
- At the same time, lib lawyers got THREE conservative-based initiatives tossed off the ballot by one of their pet judges, then "providentially" managed to get the State Supreme Court to throw out all of the appeals ten days before the election. I surely didn't, but I'm sure that there were a bunch of conservative voters who just threw up their hands and skipped voting altogether.
Also, IMHO, the MSM chatter about conservative voters staying home out of disgust is so much fertilizer...... It might be interesting to see how many places besides Montana got the same tactics pulled on 'em.