A TP Negative

The Tea Party Giveth ... - NYTimes.com: "...But in the Senate, the Tea Parties’ critics can claim some vindication — and more of it than I expected. The conservative grassroots can take credit, in one sense or another, for the victories of Rand Paul, Ron Johnson (who got his start as a speaker at Tea Party rallies) and Marco Rubio. But the inevitable defeat of Christine O’Donnell was accompanied by Harry Reid’s unexpectedly easy win over Sharron Angle, and — according to the Denver Post, at least — Michael Bennet’s hair’s-breadth victory over Ken Buck in Colorado. All of those should have been winnable seats for Republicans, and with different candidates they might have been. But in each case, the Tea Parties got the nominees they wanted, and in each case they went down to defeat. Meanwhile, more establishment-ish Republicans were cleaning up: Dan Coats won in Indiana, Rob Portman won in Ohio, Mark Kirk won in Illinois, and Lisa Murkowski’s write-in campaign in Alaska seems poised to keep her in the Senate..."