Tuesday’s election results send a very clear signal that voters are not interested in electing extremist candidates who are hostile to women. And, as Rachel Maddow tallies it, all nine members of what she’s endearingly called the “rape caucus” lost their races.

In a year that was dominated by the politics of contraception and abortion, women sided with Democratic candidates who held that such choices should be left to a woman and her doctor. Obama won by 11 points among women while he lost by 7 among men — an 18 point gender gap that far exceeds the [...]