Oh and Tim Johnson, tell him to stay on as well in South Dakota. Most of these states went as they did because the incumbents retired.
It was well-known 2 years ago that those retirements would hurt the Dems. But the bolded isn't really true at all. A majority of the Republican gains were defeated incumbents, and there's a strong chance that a number of the open seats would have gone Republican anyway if their incumbents had not retired. Rockefeller would almost certainly have been toast, while Baucus and Johnson would probably have been competitive but lost in the wave. Only Harkin would be more likely than not to hold on, but it wouldn't be that surprising if he had lost too.
