Best/Worst Candidates of 2012

[Miles]

My top 5 for each:

Best
1. Heidi Heitkamp- pretty obvious.
2. Jim Matheson- Despite getting a district that was 67% new and pulling less crossover support than in recent races, he still hung on against a nationally-hyped Republican.
3. Kathy Hochul- Hochul got the shaft in redistricting as her district, already McCain's best in the state, shifted further rightward. I thought she ran a great campaign and, though she didn't win, I think a 50.7/49.3 loss is respectable.
4. Jon Tester- He won by a surprisingly comfortable margin and, from what I followed, he ran a far super campaign to that of Rehberg.
5. Ted Cruz- This has more to do with his comfortable win in the runoff than the general.

Honorable mention: Joe Walsh. Yes, I think he did pretty well. Between his polarizing style and Duckworth's role as a national figure, he still managed to keep his race relatively competitive.

Worst
1. Ben Chandler- The fact that he only did 5% better than Obama is pretty unacceptable. Luckily for Team D, they have a few good candidates than can reclaim this seat.
2. Pete Hoekstra/Todd Akin/Richard Mourdock- Since these three need no explaintion and will be on most people's lists, I'll just count them as one.
3. Bob Casey- We've discussed his lazy campaign and underperformance quite a bit.
4. Jason Altimire- Altmire's primary loss earns him this place. Despite lobbying Republicans for the ultimately-enacted map, when it actually came time to run, it seemed like he was almost trying to lose the primary.
5. Robert Pittenger- Tough Roberts proved to be stronger than I expected, Pittenger, despite spending millions of his own money, ran 6 points behind Romney and even further behind McCrory.

[adma]

Allen West, anyone?

[BM]

Best: Heidi Heitkamp
Worst: Todd Akin

But I'm finally willing to admit that Shelley Berkley deserves a spot on the worst list. Someone else would have won that race (although Berkley still should have).

[Brittain33]

1. Ben Chandler- The fact that he only did 5% better than Obama is pretty unacceptable. Luckily for Team D, they have a few good candidates than can reclaim this seat.

According to a friend in Lexington, tv was wall-to-wall ads of Chandler's endorsing Barack Obama in 2008. That gave him a tough headwind in that district.

[hopper]

Best: Heidi Heitkamp
Worst: Todd Akin

But I'm finally willing to admit that Shelley Berkley deserves a spot on the worst list. Someone else would have won that race (although Berkley still should have).

Yeah you guys should have ran Cortez-Masto instead of Berkley. I think Berkley voting for the Obama Agenda hurt her statewide for some reason even though Obama carried Nevada. Heller ran on as a moderate as far as the immigration issue is concerned(ran an immigration reform.) That hepled him alot! A fun fact: Heller actually votes against his own party more than Scott Brown does.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Claire McCaskill deserves a mention too.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Worst candidates Todd Akin, Walsh
Best candidates Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth

[Bacon King]

In addition to all the candidates listed, I'll just ad that John Barrow ran a stellar campaign; in addition to a superb GOTV effort with African American voters, he also made a very strong appeal to rural whites. This is how you win as a Blue Dog in the rural south, people.

[Gass3268]

In addition to all the candidates listed, I'll just ad that John Barrow ran a stellar campaign; in addition to a superb GOTV effort with African American voters, he also made a very strong appeal to rural whites. This is how you win as a Blue Dog in the rural south, people.

That line on lynching has to be political gold in his district! Not only does it show that he's pro-guns but also that his family was anti-lynching, which would help with African Americans. Brilliant!

[AndrewTX]

Worst candidates Todd Akin, Walsh
Best candidates Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth

I personally don't understand how Tammy could make it to a best. A jar of spoiled Mayo could beat Joe Walsh. I was surprised with how small of a margin she had too.

[nolesfan2011]

Assuming we allow primary people on the list?

Best in terms of  over performance
1: Tester
2: Cruz
3: Pat McCrory (NC-GOV)
4: John Barrow
5: Heitkamp

honorable mention: Bob Kerrey and Dean Heller

Worst in terms of underperformance:
1: Akin
2: Dick Lugar
3:Paul Sadler (TX-Sen)
4: Connie Mack
5: John Brunner (MO-Sen primary)

Honorable mention: Elizabeth Warren, Hoekstra,  Tommy Thompson, Josh Mandel, Lee Anderson (GA-12) and Kurt Bills

My top 5 for each:

Best
1. Heidi Heitkamp- pretty obvious.
2. Jim Matheson- Despite getting a district that was 67% new and pulling less crossover support than in recent races, he still hung on against a nationally-hyped Republican.
3. Kathy Hochul- Hochul got the shaft in redistricting as her district, already McCain's best in the state, shifted further rightward. I thought she ran a great campaign and, though she didn't win, I think a 50.7/49.3 loss is respectable.
4. Jon Tester- He won by a surprisingly comfortable margin and, from what I followed, he ran a far super campaign to that of Rehberg.
5. Ted Cruz- This has more to do with his comfortable win in the runoff than the general.

Honorable mention: Joe Walsh. Yes, I think he did pretty well. Between his polarizing style and Duckworth's role as a national figure, he still managed to keep his race relatively competitive.

Worst
1. Ben Chandler- The fact that he only did 5% better than Obama is pretty unacceptable. Luckily for Team D, they have a few good candidates than can reclaim this seat.
2. Pete Hoekstra/Todd Akin/Richard Mourdock- Since these three need no explaintion and will be on most people's lists, I'll just count them as one.
3. Bob Casey- We've discussed his lazy campaign and underperformance quite a bit.
4. Jason Altimire- Altmire's primary loss earns him this place. Despite lobbying Republicans for the ultimately-enacted map, when it actually came time to run, it seemed like he was almost trying to lose the primary.
5. Robert Pittenger- Tough Roberts proved to be stronger than I expected, Pittenger, despite spending millions of his own money, ran 6 points behind Romney and even further behind McCrory.

[Zioneer]

In addition to all the candidates listed, I'll just ad that John Barrow ran a stellar campaign; in addition to a superb GOTV effort with African American voters, he also made a very strong appeal to rural whites. This is how you win as a Blue Dog in the rural south, people.

That line on lynching has to be political gold in his district! Not only does it show that he's pro-guns but also that his family was anti-lynching, which would help with African Americans. Brilliant!

And it's a positive ad, in a way. No attacking his opponent at all! Barrow's campaign director/manager was a genius.

Anyway, here's my choices for best and worst:

Best:

1. Heidi Heitkamp (for obvious reasons)
2. Jim Matheson (as much as I absolutely despise him, he ran an incredible campaign, as Miles said. They couldn't gerrymander him out this time).
3. Claire McCaskill (she pulled off a Reid-level political machination, which is no mean feat)
4. John Barrow (that ad is seriously Southern gold)
5. Raul Ruiz (managed to beat Mary Bono Mack)


Worst

1. Todd Akin ('nuff said)
2. Tommy Thompson
3. Mia Love (she ran a terrible campaign basically relying on the Romney wave to win, and she was terrible at GOTV).
4. Richard Mourdock/Pete Hoekstra
5. Bob Casey (lazy, lazy campaigner)

Runner up: Shelley Berkley

[Miles]

Heitkamp vs. Obama. She performed better in every county.

[Napoleon]

Claire McCaskill deserves a mention too.

For what, exactly? Having a dumb ass opponent?

[Niemeyerite]

Claire McCaskill deserves a mention too.

For what, exactly? Having a dumb ass opponent?

Having a dumb ass opponent in a more republican state than Indiana and Pennsylvania (even Ohio and Wisconsin) and winning by more than Joe Donnelly and Bob Casey (also Sherrod Brown and Tammy Baldwin).

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Claire McCaskill deserves a mention too.

For what, exactly? Having a dumb ass opponent?

Having a dumb ass opponent in a more republican state than Indiana and Pennsylvania (even Ohio and Wisconsin) and winning by more than Joe Donnelly and Bob Casey (also Sherrod Brown and Tammy Baldwin).

Plus her excellent, if sketchy, work ratf**ing herself said opponent in the first place.