So is there anything we can take from these specific results and the less than hoped for wave effect in the Northeast? Perhaps the lesson is that the GOP can still learn something from the “Purge the RINOs” era and their time in the wilderness from 2006 to 2010.

Not every Republican will be a good fit in every district, but they are still Republicans. It remains better to have someone on your team who may only vote with you ¾ of the time than to put a Democrat in the same seat who will support you zero percent. Democrats developed a strategy four years ago which included running blue dogs who were sometimes diametrically opposed to their party on social issues and they ran roughshod over the Republicans. The result was precisely what you saw all summer after four years of Democratic control of Congress and two years of their holding the White House.

If that didn’t teach you anything, there is little more to say. It’s time to welcome the RINOs back and open up the tent a bit. Ideologically purist attitudes may feel good, but they can leave everyone else paying a heavy price.