I'm willing to bet that next time a Democrat wins statewide in Indiana (whenever that may be), they're carrying Hamilton County by more than the state as a whole.
This is basically certain
Donnell ran a campaign catering to rural hicks yet Hamilton was 2 points right of the state of the whole. If he went after Hamilton voters and other suburbian areas he might have won.
Yeah, in retrospect it is pretty obvious that Donnelly/McCaskill should've focused their entire strategies on flipping counties like Hamilton, Vanderburgh, Allen, St. Charles, Greene, Platte, etc.
It might not have been enough to win, but I bet they would've gotten closer than they actually did.
It's funny, even Manchin's win in West Virgina was essentially him winning what could be consisdered the ubran/surburban areas of the state (Charleston, Huntington, Wheeling, Morgantown, DC exurbs, etc).
