So then it's really not the candidates who are to blame. is it?
Trickle down blame!
Correct.
Collins was up for reelection only 3 months ago. I posted several threads saying she needed a real Republican challenger in the 2008 primary. Conservative activists shrugged it off ("But Maine is a blue state, she needs to be that way to win... blah blah blah") and were too busy whining about politicians who agree with them 90% of the time instead. Republicans in Maine then rubber stamped her for another yet term and Susan knew she could vote with the RATs on most major issues and get a free pass from the party base. So why not?
And I'm not even going to get into all the conservative activists on FR who openly supported Specter in the 2004 primary, arguing that "only he" could "win" Pennsylvania (with an even dumber argument being "President Bush wants Specter renominated, he must have a good reason for doing so, and we must support OUR President"