2014 Post-Mortem: How did the Democrats screw this up so badly?

[Slander and/or Libel]

Our voting system is divorced from any accountability for the actions of office-holders. Republicans just figured out how to game that better than Democrats.

[Slander and/or Libel]

The Republicans ran people who were good at hiding being bigoted nutjobs, with the assistance of a media eager to craft a narrative about the GOP triumphing over its extreme base.

[Slander and/or Libel]

The GOP autopsy appears to have worked. I think the Tea Party stranglehold in the GOP caucus might be broken.

What you mean is that total lunatic tea partiers like Ernst can now win in purple states.

Your right. That is why we have Senators-elect McDaniel, Broun, Miller, Wolf, Buck, and Bevin right?

Ugh. Nobody said that they won everywhere. But Joni Ernst is a straight-up lunatic, and she won in a purple state.

[Slander and/or Libel]

The GOP autopsy appears to have worked. I think the Tea Party stranglehold in the GOP caucus might be broken.

What you mean is that total lunatic tea partiers like Ernst can now win in purple states.

Your right. That is why we have Senators-elect McDaniel, Broun, Miller, Wolf, Buck, and Bevin right?

Ugh. Nobody said that they won everywhere. But Joni Ernst is a straight-up lunatic, and she won in a purple state.

Thanks for proving my point.

The party on the whole is shifting back to the establishment. Ernst may be a Tea Party candidate, but she was elected in part due to the presence of more Cory Gardiners and Sullivans and less Todd Akins and Allen Wests.

What? Proving your point? Ugh.

Ernst and Gardner won not because they have moderate, more establishment-friendly views. They won because they were disciplined enough to be able to hide their views when they had to.

[Slander and/or Libel]

I don't think there's any evidence whatsoever to think that the Obama coalition is somehow different from the Democratic coalition. At least not in the way you guys are saying.