WI: Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders in opposite senate seats?

[Zacoftheaxes]

What if Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy were up for re-election at the opposite times, with Sanders up for election in 2010 at the height of tea party fever, taking down an honest to God (democratic) socialist would be a great goal for the movement.

This would mean that Leahy would be up for election in 2012, after his brainchild, PIPA and it's brother SOPA caused an uproar (ignoring some butterflies here).

What would the differences be, if any?

 

[RogueBeaver]

Neither of them can be taken down. A hypothetical matchup which involved Tom Salmon or Jim Douglas would be much less competitive than OTL's forthcoming Hirono-Lingle race in HI IMO.