You cant compare mid-term elections to a general election. Independents, moderates, and weak democrats who stayed home during the MT election are more likely to vote in a general election where the president is running for re-election; and the majority will vote for Obama because theyre turned off by the TPM, turned off by whomever the GOP presidential candidate is, and they voted for Obama the last time.
The mid-term elections reflected voter turnout in mostly homogeneous republican districts. When statewide elections are reviewed for 2010, however, where the voting population is more diverse such as California, Nevada, New York, Colorado, and Connecticut the TPM candidates lost governor and senate races because the voters rejected their radical, divisive message.
The 2012 election, therefore, will be more like the senate and governor races in 2010, where a more diverse voter population, fed up with TPM extremism and obstructionism, will spell trouble for the GOP.
