Going into this midterm campaign, Republicans were haunted by memories of Christine O’Donnell, Todd Akin, Sharron Angle and Richard Mourdock. The Republican candidates who ran for the Senate from Delaware, Missouri, Nevada and Indiana in 2010 and 2012 proved famously not up to the job, and their gaffe-ridden campaigns motivated the GOP to focus on recruiting better candidates.

There is no doubt the performance of GOP Senate candidates has vastly improved from earlier years. And sure enough, Republicans are doing better in Senate races this year.