Why the Democrats prevailed in the 2006 Congressional Elections

[Nym90]

I find the notion that Republicans lost because they went too far to the left a bit preposterous, but otherwise not a bad analysis.

The American people prefer divided government, all else being equal. Come 2008 we will have had 40 years in which neither party will have been in complete control of the Presidency, Senate, and House for more than 4 years consecutively, and both of those 4 year runs ended in a massive defeat for the party in power, as did another 2 year run, the only times we've had one party control since 1968 (excepting the Jeffords party switch ending a brief 5 month stretch).

All of the Karl Rove talk about a massive realignment and the Republicans becoming the dominant party for a generation was pure rubbish.

[Nym90]

Fourth, the Republicans engaged in internectine civil war.  Bush and the corporate liberals made war on conservative Republicans in places like Rhode Island and Arizona.

One question I had about the above: are you asserting that it would have been better to run conservative Republicans in Rhode Island?

Yeah, not to mention how well Graf did in AZ-08. Laffey would've lost almost as badly as Alan Keyes.

[Nym90]

Fourth, the Republicans engaged in internectine civil war.  Bush and the corporate liberals made war on conservative Republicans in places like Rhode Island and Arizona.

One question I had about the above: are you asserting that it would have been better to run conservative Republicans in Rhode Island?

Yeah, not to mention how well Graf did in AZ-08. Laffey would've lost almost as badly as Alan Keyes.

You really don't understand (or are deliberately misrepresenting) my point.

If you go out of your way to exhibit your hatred of the base of your party (as Chafee did) you will lose.

Now the national Republican party unleashed a torrent of hate filled propaganda in the primary in a futile effort to nominate a liberal.  This effort severely injured Graf.  

A solid majority of Rhode Island voters approved of Chafee's job performance, they just wanted to see a Democratic Senate.

I agree that pissing off your base is a very bad idea, but there really isn't a Republican base in Rhode Island.

A solid conservative isn't going to get elected in that state. Republicans need a moderate candidate combined with a non-anti GOP mood nationally to win. Chafee did far better than any other GOP candidate in Rhode Island would've done.

The same of course is true of liberal Democrats being unelectable in Utah.

I do agree that going as far left as Chafee did yet running as a Republican wasn't such a great idea since it left him completely dependent on Independents, who just simply weren't going to go Republican this year. But it has to be considered in the context of the state.