“This poll also confirms the conventional wisdom that Republican voters threw away a certain pickup of this seat”
And the “conventional wisdom” has been correct how many times in this election cycle?
It may be time to stop worrying about “conventional wisdom.”
This is almost certainly true. But most people are more concerned about conservative pickups, not Republican ones.
Even if they did, Castle would hardly be an improvement over the dem and would probably join with Snowe, Collins and the other "independents". If O'Donnell wins, it's a win/win. If Castle had won, it would be as much of a lose/lose as if the dem had won. Delaware is probably too blue to even bother with (but I did send a contribution to O'Donnell).
voters threw away Castle, SPECIFICALLY.
The GOP is clueless, but they stopped representing their base after Reagan left.