[bko]

I think you're underselling the accomplishment. Most people tend to vote party lines regardless of how bad their candidate is. I've seen it personally with family members and friends, even if they are under investigation for corruption. Usually in deep red/blue states the other party is normally very moderate.

[staticautomatic]

For some reason this reminds me of John Ashcroft, among other things, the only US senator to ever lose an election to a dead opponent.