Sharron Angle’s overtly racist ads featuring images of menacing Latinos seriously backfired on her; she garnered just 8% of the Latino vote, compared to Harry Reid’s 90%.

In this election, the Tea Party GOP made a calculation to pander to the racist and xenophobic elements of their base, and this is a glimpse of the backlash to come. The days when they can count on a racist base to put them over the top are numbered, as Latinos and other minorities make up increasingly large segments of the American population.