If you could handpick candidates in each race for your party...

[tmthforu94]

How different do you think things would be looking? You aren't restricted to just those who ran in the primary, but please don't do complete long-shots.

For starters, here is what the 2010 map would have looked like if I had a say on who was nominated:

Differing from RL, Republicans pick up Nevada (Lowden), Colorado (Norton), Delaware (Castle), and West Virginia (Capito). I also would have had Stutzman win in Indiana. So that'd put it at 51-49 GOP right now.

If I could pick 2010 candidates, I would have had Steelman in Missouri, Lugar in Indiana, Hovde in Wisconsin (with hindsight), and Dalrymple in North Dakota. Not going to bother in races where it wouldn't have made any impact. With those candidates, all which were plausible (Dalrymple is a stretch, but I believe had had considered it), I think the map would look like this:

Republicans would have pickups in Wisconsin, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Montana, while only losing Massachusetts and Maine. So either RL, Republicans would be at 50 seats, or if I had been able to handpick 2010 candidates, they'd be at 54 seats.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

2010
AZ: Flake - Much more breathing room for on the job training and AZ Class III 2016 may be trouble with McCain
CA: Campbell
CO: Norton
CT: Simmons
DE: Castle
NV: Porter or Lowden/Tark within the primary

Probably only gets you the big three blown seats, but the others may have been closer.

2012:
AZ: Shadegg, possibly Cardon within the primary
FL: Hasner - I was wrong, sue me!
IN: Skillman or Rodkita. Preferably Pence, but he ran for Governor.  
MI: Lynn-Land
MO: Talent, Steelman or Brunner within the primary.
NE: Bruning, but Fischer isn't a problem unless the stories of it being close are true.
ND: Wayne Stenejhem, losing his brother may have made him drop out though.  
OH: One of the Steves. LaTourette or even Austria. 
VA: Bob McDonnell
WI: Hovde (a determined guy with a ton of money flooding the markets on day 1 after the primary, like Smith in PA. It is why Cardon may have been better than Flake in AZ, as well.)


AZ and IN would be off the table, ND, NE, and MO locked up as gains from the Dems. VA would be tilt to lean GOP. FL, MT, WI, OH, PA and MI would all be competative.

A better run Romney for President campaign, and you have good chance of 55 or 56 Senate seats. Slim outside chance to run past that to 60 with better organization at the Pres level in ME and NM which would have aided Summers and Wilson.

[RogueBeaver]

2010

CO: Norton
DE: Castle
NV: Lowden

2012

FL: Buchanan, Hasner or *miracle* Jeb.
MI: Lynn-Land
MO: Talent, Steelman, Brunner

[Antonio the Sixth]

This is clearly a republican thread.

[California8429]

All you fools picking Norton. You'll have your chance to see her flop in 2014 -_-

[morgieb]

Would have taken out Casey, picked a non-corrupt candidate in Nevada and not pick a total embarrassment (a State Senator or someone) in Tennessee.

In 2010, it's hard, that year was too Republican so I don't really know where we could have done better with recruitment.

[BM]

I posted this in another thread but it really belongs here:

Norton was completely overrated and a bigot in her own right (anti-Muslim, said nothing as Obama is called a Muslim by her braindead supporters, etc). There's a great chance she would have crashed and burned too. The same goes for Sue Lowden, whose moronic comments about trading chickens for healthcare were a MAJOR factor in her primary loss that people forget about. Who's to say she wouldn't have continued to be an incompetent idiot in her campaign against Reid?

The myth that they both would have easily won is just that - a myth. Sue Lowden was an untested candidate who failed to perform in the primary. Sharron Angle only lucked out because she surged so late in the primary (partly due to Lowden's continuous blunders that made her a national punchline), and there wasn't a chance for her to fail the basic competency test, so that came later during the general.


Jane Norton is apparently being urged to run again in 2014, and the GOP bench in Colorado is surprisingly pathetic so she just might get the nomination this time. And she'll probably fail against Udall.

[CountryRoads]

2012:

MO: Steelman
IN: Pence
WI: Kasten

[freepcrusher]

well to go into Mr Phips mode

1996
NE - James Exon
AL - Howell Heflin
GA - Sam Nunn

1998
OH - John Glenn
AR - Dale Bumpers

2000
NV - Richard Bryan

2002 (see 1996)

2004
FL - Bob Graham
LA - John Breaux
OH - Glenn runs again
SC - Hollings
AR - Bumpers runs again

2010
IN - Evan Bayh
ND - Dorgan
LA - Breaux runs again
OH - Glenn runs again
SC - Hollings runs again
FL - Graham runs again
AR - Bumpers runs again

2012
WI - Kohl
ND - Conrad