Gerrymandering almost guarantees that they won't be as punished as they deserve to, it MIGHT damage the accepted wisdom that the Dems are set to lose the Senate in 2014...
Whose accepted wisdom is that? My impression had been that ever since the Dems did better in the 2012 Senate races than expected the conventional wisdom was that while they would likely lose a few seats, it was unlikely they'd lose the Senate. After all, they need to lose 6 current seats to lose control, assuming Booker regains NJ for the Dems as expected. Even before this mess that looked highly unlikely, and I dare say that right now it is impossible, tho events could change that.
