Ok guys, while we wait, who's ready to talk about Cory Gardner?

I wasn't able to cover his re-election bid as closely as I wanted because of [waves hand] all this, but this seems pretty obvious: Gardner had, at best, a vanishingly small path to victory in a rapidly bluing state, and arguably none at all.

Gardner is perhaps most famous for making the tactical decision to go all-in with Trump even after opposing him post-Access Hollywood in late 2016. Even his critics concede Gardner also has excellent political instincts.

Politically, was this the right play?

Well, the argument that it was the right play well-known -- even the slightest break from Trump would sour Republicans on Gardner and cut his base out from under him, while if he hugged him and tried to do some nonpartisan stuff Coloradans liked, maybe he could eke out a victory.

Up until this week, the counter argument for the GOP was Jeff Flake -- ie, oppose Trump, give up your career in politics.

But now we have the Susan Collins example. Maybe if Gardner had just distanced himself a few times on key votes he could have won?

There's reason to be pretty skeptical of this, though. Collins had 25 years to build her independent brand in Maine, a state that still remains fond of ticket-splitting (see ME-2). Colorado isn't acting like that nowadays.

Look at Rep. Mike Coffman. He was a pretty reliable Trump critic through 2016-2018 and he lost his swing district seat in 2018. Big time. Coffman was pretty well established in that district, not a freshman senator, and he couldn't survive the break with Trump.

And then there's one other thing to think about. Gardner is a conservative and a pretty loyal partisan. He's not Susan Collins. He's not a Trumpy sort by nature, but he is very close to and supportive of Republican senate leadership.

That wing of the party has pretty much gotten its dream outcome. Gardner himself, as NRSC chair, helped expand the GOP's hold on that Senate. That may prove very consequential now. He couldn't have done that w/out the Trump embrace.

The better senator to compare Gardner to imho is Doug Jones in Alabama. Jones is a pretty solid Democrat, he campaigned like a solid Democrat and lost big in a state where he no longer fits. But plenty of people on here don't deride Jones for sticking to his principles.

So, in the end, was Gardner's strategy the best political tactic? Probably, but not definitely, yes.

Was it the best tactic given what Gardner wanted, which is not just an outside shot at reelection? Yes, no question.

I rest my case (this wouldnt have worked fwiw) https://twitter.com/trish_zornio/status/1324391269213286400?s=20