An off-year election is an opportunity for the winning party to learn the wrong lessons. Such an opportunity beckons for Republicans. They are poised to win elections, and may possibly gain control of the Senate, in part because the most loyal Democratic constituencies — single women, blacks and Hispanics — tend not to participate as energetically in non-presidential years. (Though the spending bomb that Democrats are about to detonate may minimize Republican gains.)

Few of the states featuring close Senate contests have large Hispanic populations. Among key races (Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan and North Carolina), only the Centennial State has a significant number of Hispanic voters.