GOP lineup will help shift the Nov. election from a referendum on Dem. control to a contest between individual candidates with clear differences.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Midway through a volatile primary season that has seen the electorate move right and a spate of incumbents knocked out, Republican voters are placing a clear bet that a roster of outspoken, anti-government candidates, many new to the national stage, can ride the country's anti-Washington mood to victory.

Some Republican candidates are embracing the strongest small-government policies since the GOP's sweeping win in 1994, defying many analyst predictions that the election of President Barack Obama two years ago signaled a leftward tilt for the nation.

Many in the party are celebrating the new blood and see the developing landscape as an echo of 1994, when Republicans won the Senate and retook the House from Democrats after four decades. Polls show the anti-incumbency passions of Americans are at least equal to those of that year.

In a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, 63% of voters said most members of Congress do not deserve re-election, while 32% said most do—among the most anti-incumbent responses since Gallup first asked the question in 1992.

[S]trategists in both parties say the fall campaign season, when less politically active and more moderate voters tend to first tune in to campaigns, will pose a test for many of these new candidates—and more broadly, of how conservative the U.S. has become.

"The challenge for these candidates is transitioning from an insurgent profile to a candidate who can be trusted not only to win but to govern," said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who worked for former presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2008. "This is the test now for all these candidates."

Democrats argue that they will benefit from many of the GOP nominees whose candidacies have been fueled by conservative anger at Washington. They say the emerging GOP lineup will help shift the November election from a referendum on Democratic control to a contest between individual candidates with clear differences.