Well, my more general point was that at the federal level, there are Democrats that openly campaign as liberal/progressive, there are Democrats that openly campaign as moderate, and there are Democrats that openly campaign as conservative. In contrast, there are zero Republicans that campaign as liberal/progressive, there are almost none that openly campaign as moderate (I don't believe even the Maine twins in the Senate would actually use that term), and everyone else is always trying to out-conservative their opposition.
Oddly enough, in the Mass senate race neither is even mentioning their own party. If you watched the republican's ads and didn't know better you would bet money that he was running as a third party candiate. The dems aren't quite as strong.
But neither of them mention their own party, their oppenant, the Obama administatration etc. just how "independant" they are.