ny mag :The Midterm Elections Gave Republicans a Lot to Celebrate, But No Mandate

[LiberalElite]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/11/republicans-no-midterm-election-mandate.html?mid=google&google_editors_picks=true

"The election’s over, and now it’s official: The Democrats got crushed. For the first time since the Party won the House and Senate in 2006, Congress is back in Republican hands. As of midnight, the GOP had a 52-seat majority. We won’t know the exact number until Louisiana holds a runoff race in December, and in Alaska, the race was too close to call, but it looks like the GOP will win those races, too. Republicans also destroyed Democrats in governor’s races: Rick Scott in Florida, Scott Walker in Wisconsin, and Rick Snyder in Michigan all won reelection, and Republicans even picked up liberal states like Maryland, Massachusetts, and Illinois.

The question for Republicans was always whether running on a simple anti-Obama platform would be enough of an argument to win. It was. In West Virginia, South Dakota, and Montana, Republicans Shelley Moore Capito, Mike Rounds, and Steve Daines easily won seats previously occupied by retiring Democrats. In Arkansas, the GOP’s perfect-on-paper candidate Tom Cotton beat Democratic senator Mark Pryor. Former hog castrator Joni Ernst won in Iowa. In Colorado, Senator Mark Udall’s attempt to portray his opponent, Cory Gardner, as an anti-abortion extremist was not enough to save his Senate seat."