Why couldnt the Democratic classes of 2006 and 2008..........

[Mr.Phips]

use the advantages of incumbency to get reelected in 2010 the way the Democratic classes of 1974 and 1976 were able to survive the tough climates of 1978 and 1980?

Democrats lost 50 seats total in 1978 and 1980 and the strange thing about those losses were that in most cases, they were not members from the classes of 1974 and 1976.  They were mostly old timers who had lost touch with their districts like Al Ullman, Ed Beard, and Bob Eckhardt.  The classes of 1974 and 1976 mostly survived, even those in very Republican districts like Marty Russo, Floyd Fithian, and Tom Luken.

The question is, why couldnt people like Ron Klein, Baron Hill, John Hall, and Scott Murphy survive 2010 the way many past members in their situations survived 1978 and 1980 by using the advantages of incumbency?

[Mr.Phips]

Obama's temperament didn't exactly appeal to the ancestrally Republican districts many of those Democrats held.

Obama carried many of those districts. 

[Mr.Phips]

use the advantages of incumbency to get reelected in 2010 the way the Democratic classes of 1974 and 1976 were able to survive the tough climates of 1978 and 1980?

Defeated Democratic Senators from 1974 class:

John Durkin (New Hampshire)
John Culver (Iowa)
Richard B. Stone (Florida)
Robert Morgan (North Carolina)

What a great survivors

I was talking more about the House classes.