Perhaps the most interesting result from yesterday’s election is the total failure of Sarah Palin’s most high-profile endorsements — Christine O’Donnell, Sharron Angle, Ken Buck, and probably Joe Miller (write-ins for Lisa Murkowski were way ahead of votes for Miller at last estimate).

In several of these races, Tea Party candidates pushed out establishment GOP politicians who were virtually guaranteed to hold their seats — then the right wingers proceeded to lose big. So while no one is surprised that the GOP made gains in the House, the numbers show that the Tea Party movement is actually the main reason why Republicans didn’t also gain a majority in the Senate.

Pandering to populism is a double-edged sword.