While candidates kept their distance from President Obama on the campaign trail this year, they didn't shy away from Bill and Hillary Clinton, who got involved in a number of races across the country. The campaigns the Clintons chose to endorse, particularly in swing states, gave them two opportunities 1) shore up support for Democrats ahead of 2016 2) remind voters about Hillary's potential candidacy for 2016. Lets just say things didn't go according to plan for Democrats, the the Clintons', or the candidates they endorsed.
Here's a chart from the RNC, showing how many races were lost despite Bill and Hillary's presence.
Adding one more to the list, yesterday the DCSS pulled television ad funding from Louisiana, putting Democrat Mary Landrieu, who the Clintons campaigned for, in an even more challenging position against her Republican opponent Bill Cassidy in a run-off election.
Immediately after polls closed on Tuesday, Senator Rand Paul (who also has his eye on 2016) started counting up "Hillary's losers."
You didnt think it could get worse than your book tour? It did. Courtesy of the U.S. voters: https://t.co/kGAZVFq7ze pic.twitter.com/zABFStFM67
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) November 5, 2014And there were a lot of them.
Meanwhile, some in the mainstream media are actually analyzing Tuesday night as a victory for Hillary going into 2016, despite miserable defeats this week.
The bottom line is the Clintons had a terrible week. A poll released earlier this year showed that voters believe HIllary Clinton's ideas are old. Voters made that clear Tuesday when they rejected the majority of Clinton endorsed candidates.