How the hell did he lose by 12 points in 2006?
Blue Wave+the fallout of Bob Taft led to a toxic image of the Ohio GOP at the time.
This.
Also remember this is not uncommon, Jay Nixon for example twice lost a senate bid by wide margins in 1988 and 1998, before winning two easy gubernatorial elections in 2008 and 2012.
I was actually reading about the 1986 Senate elections earlier. Henry McMaster carried a single county against Ernest Hollings. Now he's governor and poised to win in a blowout.
Larger gap, but still. It's remarkable that DeWine lost by as much as he did, only to make a comeback four years later and defeat Richard Cordray (the incumbent AG) by two points. Kasich beat Strickland by the same margin.
