So now, a day later, the finger pointing has begun.
This American Prospect article sums up the democrats debacle rather well:
Which is a pretty fair summation of the Democrats' 2002 campaign. They had no message. They were an opposition party that drew no lines of opposition. They had nothing to say. And on Tuesday, their base responded by staying home in droves.
and
From one end of the country to the other, the Democrats had nothing to say. And the nation will suffer for their silence.
Well, this last statement is a bit extreme. But it does drive the point home. I've been saying for weeks now that "the democrats are dead to me" and "they're spineless". There was no powerful leadership, no powerful rallies (outside of the Wellstone memorial, which which made me proud to camp out on the left...for an evening), nothing. What was there to get excited about? What reason was there to get out and vote if the choice was dumbass v. dumbass? Well, there were the third parties and other independants who sometimes DID offer a good alternative. But overall, in the so-called "key" races, the GOP massively out-campaigned the Democrats by rallying behind a solid (often gut-wrenching) message.
Ugh. Well, the talking heads on the television have caught on, the writers (esp. in the progressive rags) have caught on. Now - will the party?
(TAP article quoted written by Harold Meyerson).