Honestly, this hurts almost as much as Nevada. I can understand losing to an appealing, fresh-faced Democrat even in a big red wave year, but how do we not manage to bump off this dial tone? It’s Boxer redux. So blue is the west coast, apparently, that even with zero personal charm and anti-incumbent, anti-Democratic sentiment peaking, there’s still no way to dislodge her.

I think it’s time to give up out there. Seriously.

Sen. Patty Murray has won a fourth term, riding a wave of strong Democratic support in King County to defeat Republican challenger Dino Rossi.

As of Thursday evening, Murray was leading Rossi by more than 45,000 votes, taking 51 percent to Rossi’s 49 percent. That’s up from a 14,000-vote lead on Election Day.

According to a Seattle Times analysis, Rossi would need to get about 54 percent of the estimated 591,000 uncounted ballots statewide to overcome Murray’s lead.

But nearly 264,000 of those ballots are in King County. Murray’s already commanding lead there has only expanded since Election Day. She took 68 percent of the 69,000 King County ballots counted Thursday.

Looking at the national map, it appears that the only Senate race where the GOP won where it was supposed to be close was Mark Kirk knocking off the mob banker in Illinois. Toomey’s win was a nailbiter too, but he led in virtually every poll for months. Frankly, that one was closer than it should have been. Depressing.

Guess what’s happening now. This.