While I'm glad we picked up what we could, I am disappointed in a few races that should have been won, in my opinion. I had opined about 8 more races in the Senate that should have been won, but we really needed the Senate conservative majority. Note I didn't say "Republican" majority, because RINO's are poison. But Sharron Angle was our biggest disappointment. Now that the casino unions saved their precious senator, I hope they enjoy their well deserved extended vacations from the layoffs that will occur before spring.
Part of the problem is the fact that our tea party guys were, by and large, political neophytes. The democrats new how to play the game, including getting the mainstream media to promote their socialist agenda while demonizing the conservative on a regular basis. In the end, this media splurge probably won the day for the democrats, and it can be positively said that the mainstream media saved the US Senate for the democrats. In a normal world, Angle, McDonnell, and Fiorina win handily.
We started out damn good, by taking Indiana with Coats, Kentucky with Paul, and Florida with Rubio. With that start, I actually was starting to feel that it was possible for the Tea Party Sweep, until the initial Coons/McDonnell result came in, which ended up not being close. Had McDonnell won, it would have been great, as it could have initiated a west coast surge, but no dice. Hence, Angle and Fiorina lost, and the fate of the Senate was officially sealed. We really needed to be close, but we fell a bit short, and the Democrats can control the agenda.
With a split Congress, the party with the President has the advantage from a political gamesmanship angle. They can control the spin far more easily, which they will now do. Expect to see the democrats and the media blame the tea party officeholders for everything from destroying the planet, stealing food from welfare mothers and children, etc, etc, in a bid to make 2012 into a referendum. If we had controlled both houses of Congress, the game would not have been played, but now, the Obama/Reid team can spin everything. It is up to the Tea Party candidates to hold their ground. They will have to play doubly hard, because now they have to maintain their constituency while educating them at the same time.
That is my initial analysis. A bit bittersweet compared with the expectations, but let's see what we can do with it.