Daniels: Weak Candidates Hurt GOP in Senate

Most Republicans are quite happy with the gains the party made in the Senate this week, despite the fact that it didn’t take control of the chamber. But the GOP could have done better if not for some weak candidates, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels tells The Hill.

“We didn't turn up the strongest candidates,” the potential contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination says. Presumably he was referring to the tea party-backed candidates who lost Tuesday in Colorado, Delaware and Nevada. Overall, Republicans added six seats. They needed 10 to take control of the Senate.

But Daniels warns Democrats they’re denying reality if they think it was just the recession that cost them control of the House. Voters “recoiled from the advancement of state power” perpetrated by Democratic policies, he says.