Did The Tea Party Affiliation Make A Difference?

Well, first off using the NYTimes definition of a Tea Party member, 61% LOST their races, but it should be noted that the overwhelming number of them ran against Democratic incumbents and even in this Republican year, that is still a daunting task.  But, this article from the Monkey Cage (which is done by several political scientists), they do explain (in simple statistical terms) that being a Tea Party member improved one's vote total by a "whopping" 1.3%.  In short, the Tea Party makes for great news stories, but as Christine O'Donnell's campaign showed, there isn't statistically that much there. By the way, Jill Lapore has a great book out talking about how the Tea Party (and most of us) have forgotten some of the realities of that era.