Big campaign spending for status quo outcome

A few hours before the polls closed on Tuesday, an organization that tracks California political trends reported that an eye-popping $1-plus billion had been spent on campaigns this year.
The tally by California Target Book implied that big things were happening. But the vote counts later that day indicated that in California, at least, it was a pretty much status quo election.
Those who had been expected to win, Democrats mostly, did win. But even though Democrats flipped at least two congressi