You’re going to hear a lot more about Debo Adegbile before the 2014 midterm elections. And that’s a bad thing for Democrats trying desperately to hold on to their Senate majority.

Adegbile, President Obama’s choice to run the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, watched his confirmation to that post — once assumed to be likely — crumble in the matter of a few hours this past week. 

…Even more politically problematic than the Democratic defections is the fact that a number of vulnerable Democratic senators up for reelection in November voted for Adegbile — and have nothing to show for it. They include Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu, North Carolina’s Kay Hagan and Alaska’s Mark Begich, who went out on a limb for their side only to see it sawed off behind them. “It’s a 30-second ad that writes itself,” lamented one Democratic aide about the vote.