In this new edited volume, Charles S. Bullock III collects original contributions from top political scientists to evaluate Sarah Palin and the Tea Party's role in the 2010 midterm elections. Key States, High Stakes Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and the 2010 Elections focuses on states where Republicans had the chance to pick up Senate seats, as well as examining GOP Senate primaries if they involved a Palin or a Tea Party nominee facing an establishment favorite. Bullock concludes the anthology with a chapter on the legacy of the Tea Party and of Sarah Palin on American politics.

Chapter 1 The 2010 Elections
Charles S. Bullock, III
Part 1: Sarah Palin's Mama Grizzlies
Chapter 2. Mama Grizzly Nearly Trapped: New Hampshire's Republican Senate Primary
Dante J. Scala
Chapter 3. Sacrificing Electoral Viability for Ideological Purity: Christine O'Donnell and the Delaware Senate Race
Daniel C. Reed
Chapter 4. Nevada: The Tea Party Takes on Harry Reid but from the Wrong Angle
Ted G. Jelen
Chapter 5. "A Deep Blue Hole"? California, the Tea Party, and the 2010 Midterm Elections
Amy Widestrom and Christopher Dennis
Part 2: Tea Party Favorites
Chapter 6. Florida: A Plummeting Economy, Tea Parties, and Palin Give GOP a Clean Sweep
Susan A. MacManus with the assistance of David J. Bonanza and Mary L. Moss
Chapter 7. Randslide: Tea Party Success in the Establishment's Backyard
Joel Turner and Scott Lasley
Chapter 8. Ron Johnson: The Accidental Tea Partier
Geoffrey Peterson
Chapter 9. The Pennsylvania Senate Race: Toomey's Time
Stanley P. Berard
Chapter 10. Colorado: The Centennial State Bucks the National Trend
M. Jean Kingston
Chapter 11. The 2010 West Virginia Senate Race
Robert Rupp
Chapter 12. The 2010 Elections in New York
Costas Panagopoulos
Part 3 States Not in the Tea Party Play Book
Chapter 13. Arkansas: The Kettle That Didn't Whistle
Andrew Dowdle and Joseph D. Giammo
Chapter 14. Coats vs. Ellsworth: The 2010 Indiana Senate Race
Michael A. Maggiotto and Raymond H. Schelle
Chapter 15. The Blue and the Red in the Land of Obama: The 2010 Midterms in Illinois
Janna L. Dietz
Chapter 16. The 2010 Washington U.S. Senate Race: Two Familiar Faces and Two Potential Wild Cards
Edward Anegon and David Nice
Chapter 17. Connecticut: Too Liberal to Be Palin's Cup of Tea
Diana Evans
Chapter 18. Conclusion: Evaluating Palin, the Tea Party, and DeMint Influences
Charles S. Bullock, III
Notes
Index
About the Authors

By Charles S. Bullock III - Contributions by Dante J. Scala; Daniel C. Reed; Ted G. Jelen; Amy Widestrom; Christopher Dennis; Susan A. MacManus; David J. Bonanza; Mary L. Moss; Joel Turner; Scott Lasley; Geoffrey Peterson; Stanley P. Berard; M Jean Kingst