The Washington Post had a very interesting article today with an analysis of why Cantor (the warlock) lost.
The major points were that all of his advertisements just drew attention to the fact that Brat even existed and was a viable alternative. That in attacking Brat they caused the very people who are conservative to believe that he was opposed by the inside Washington crowd thereby increasing their belief that he was a serious alternative.
The article also describes the change to the district that became important to the race and their desire to keep turnout high at about 48,000 (2012 primary turnout). As it turns out turnout soared and that became a serious problem.
Read the article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Add in the PPP polling results from VA-7 yesterday and there are interesting lessons to be learner.