Barbara Boxer is one the latest members of Congress you would think is at risk of losing her seat in November. She’s a liberal Democrat in the deep-blue state of California. Elected in 1993, she’s running for her third term in the United States Senate. In any other election year, her seat would be a lock for Democrats.

But this isn’t any other election year. Democrats are coping with massively unpopular government-run health care legislation, record deficits and debts, an increasingly-unpopular president, and corruption scandal after corruption scandal. Voters recognize that the left has royally and completely screwed up Washington to an historical extent.

All of which helps explain by Boxer has lost her lead to potential Republican nominee Tom Campbell.

Campbell has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School. He has served as a law clerk at the United States Supreme Court and later served in the Reagan Administration. At age 34, he was tenured as Stanford University. Then, in 1988, Campbell was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He served five terms.

Campbell is a fiscal hawk, believes in securing the southern border, and believes in a strong national defense. He’s less hesitant to go to war than many, but he did vote to authorize Operation Desert Storm. He believes that if we do make a decision to declare war, we should use overwhelming force to complete our objective with as little American life lost as possible.

In short, he’s palatable to most American voters. His opposition to the government-run health care legislation before Congress is only likely to increase his popularity. And it may also help to explain this:

In a hypothetical match-up between two-term Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer and potential Republican nominee Tom Campbell, Campbell would win by at least a percentage point. In deep-blue California.

And he’s not the only Republican fairing well. Ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. In this latest poll, she defeats ex-Governor Jerry Brown. Brown is seeking the Democratic nomination.

So let’s see. Democrats have lost a US Senate seat in Massachusetts, the governorships of both Virginia and New Jersey, the president’s approval rating is underwater, one or both Congressional chambers are on course to flip, and now Republicans are leading in US Senate and gubernatorial races in deep-blue California.

Does anyone think maybe, just maybe, it’s time for Democrats to rethink their policy goals this year?