JoeB131
Diamond Member
I am not asking this facetiously. The whole meme coming from Karl Rove and Fox News these days is that the Tea Party had cost the GOP the 2012 Presidential Election and control f the Senate by nominating "unelectable" candidates. So I did a little chart on Senate candidates and compared them to how Romney did in percentage of the vote.
State Candidate Tea or Est % of vote Romney % Differ
MO Akin T 39 54 -15
IN Murdouch T 44 54 -10
MA Brown E 46 39 7
ME Summers T 30 40 -10
MI Hoekstra E 38 44.8 -6.8
FL Mack E 42 49 -7
OH Mandel T 45 48 -3
CT McMahon T 43 43 0
TX Cruz* T 56 59 -3
NV Heller* E 45.9 45.9 0
WI Thompson E 45.9 46.1 -0.2
VA Allen E 47.5 47.8 -0.3
NE fischer* T 58.2 60.5 -2.3
ND Berg E 49 58.7 -9.7
MT Reberg E 44.8 55.3 -10.5
AZ Flake* ? 49 54 -5
WV Raese ? 36.5 62 -25.5
As you can see, yes, some Tea Party types did do very badly (Akin and Murdouch) but so did some establishment candidates. And in most cases, not all, they were pretty close to what Romney got in the state. For instance, Heller got the same percentage in Nevada that Romney did, but he was facing three opponents while Romney only faced one. (Nevada also has an option for "none of these" which got 5% of the vote in the Senate Race.)
The other part of the problem might be the "No True Scotsman" fallacy. People cite Akin as a Tea Party candidate who sank his chances. The reality, though, is that the TEA Party groups supported Steelman, and Akin won mostly because of religious support.
State Candidate Tea or Est % of vote Romney % Differ
MO Akin T 39 54 -15
IN Murdouch T 44 54 -10
MA Brown E 46 39 7
ME Summers T 30 40 -10
MI Hoekstra E 38 44.8 -6.8
FL Mack E 42 49 -7
OH Mandel T 45 48 -3
CT McMahon T 43 43 0
TX Cruz* T 56 59 -3
NV Heller* E 45.9 45.9 0
WI Thompson E 45.9 46.1 -0.2
VA Allen E 47.5 47.8 -0.3
NE fischer* T 58.2 60.5 -2.3
ND Berg E 49 58.7 -9.7
MT Reberg E 44.8 55.3 -10.5
AZ Flake* ? 49 54 -5
WV Raese ? 36.5 62 -25.5
As you can see, yes, some Tea Party types did do very badly (Akin and Murdouch) but so did some establishment candidates. And in most cases, not all, they were pretty close to what Romney got in the state. For instance, Heller got the same percentage in Nevada that Romney did, but he was facing three opponents while Romney only faced one. (Nevada also has an option for "none of these" which got 5% of the vote in the Senate Race.)
The other part of the problem might be the "No True Scotsman" fallacy. People cite Akin as a Tea Party candidate who sank his chances. The reality, though, is that the TEA Party groups supported Steelman, and Akin won mostly because of religious support.
