The Republican Party would have regained control of the Senate, almost without a doubt, IF a number of mainstream (by GOP standards) Republicans had not been ousted in the primaries by Tea Party types.
Mourdock and Akins were the most extreme, but they were not alone. All the pollsters agree that the pols they bumped would have won, and in some other states (such as Massachusetts), the Tea Party incumbent lost to a less extreme on her side Democratic opponent.
And revulsion at these people's extremism tainted the vote for the Presidency as well.
Republicans constantly say "This is a center-right country." I think that's partly the result in well-financed propaganda campaigns and the failure of American public schools to teach critical thinking skills, but whatever the cause of that center-rightness, this election proves that America is NOT a "right wing extremist country."
And the tuition fee for that little lesson cost the GOP control of the Senate and quite possibly the White House.
It will be interesting to see whether the GOP's Tea Party wing--mostly religious extremists in economic conservatives' clothes--have the clarity needed to acknowledge this. The GOP leadership knows this but appears not to know what to do about it.
They have two years to figure it out.
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