Sacrificial lambs that ended up winning the election

[hopper]

There's also a long list of Congressman who were basically Some Dudes who lucked into running against an incumbent that suffered a major scandal during the campaign.

Chris Smith, Michael P. Flanagan, Joseph Cao, Tim Mahoney, ect.


There's also a handful of the 2006/2010 freshman class that were longshots swept in by a wave. Chip Cravaak, Nancy Boyda, Dave Loebsack. My favorite is Carol Shea-Porter, who Howard Dean couldn't even remember the name of on Election night.

Yeah Cao beating Jefferson and Flanagan beating Rostenkowski in very Dem Districts.

[hopper]

I could be wrong on this, but up until a month or so before the election wasn't Rod Blum- R- IA-01 just a sacrificial lamb candidate?

Well Jim Nussle(R) was the Congressmen for that district for awhile both went it was numbered the 2nd in the 90's and the 1st Congressional District from 2003-2006 before Bruce Braley(D) took the seat. Braley only won by 1% point(49-48%) in the Republican Wave Year of 2010. The 2000's redistricting added alot of the Quad Cities according to Wikipedia which made the district more Dem than it was in the 90's.