So most of our people lost by slim margins.. But all of our issues won by landslides..

[SomethingFishy]

So the Democrats need to center up and lean less towards the left? How's that working out for us? Do you think we should continue the shift towards the right for 2016?

Yeah we lost, big time. But if we pay attention to the issues and not the politicians, it will give us some insight into the truth. Pot Legalization... Passed by big margins where it was up for a vote except in Florida where it only got 57% of the vote. (Needed 60 to override their constitution)
Personhood amendments. soundly defeated, here in Colorado for the 4th time in a row, but we elected one of the bills authors to the Senate. Go figure.
Minimum wage increases winning by at least 20% margins.

The majority of people believe in liberal ideas. Fair wages, an end to endless wars, solutions for energy and climate change, good public education. What they don't believe in is Democrats shooting shotguns and saying "Vote for Me I'm Not Obama".

Here's my message for the Democrats in office and the ones who lost. It's not the voters, and it's not the issues. It's YOU. You want to win elections start acting like Democrats. The people have spoken, they love your issues, but tossed you out on your ass. How bad do you have to be for that to happen? Stop running from who you are. Embrace it, use it and you will win with it.

[sgtbenobo]

1. The Culture War is over....

....but "Corporations are people my friend."


Carry on.

[world wide wally]

2. Seems our candidates in Colorado were too busy bashing Obama to mention the issues.

(referring to Mark Udall and Irv Halter... Halter even found time to bash Nancy Pelosi, but not John Boehner)

[SomethingFishy]

5. Not just us man... All over the country

yet the couple places Obama did campaign.. Dems won.

Someone posted an Allison Grimes ad this morning, her shooting skeet claiming "I'm not Obama". It was horrible. And this from a guy who is not a big fan of Obama...

[Eleanors38]

3. Define or be defined.

[NYC_SKP]

4. They'll make $$$ on pot sales and taxes while we get high and think we won.

Bread and circuses...

Keep the people barely fed and entertained while the powerful reap all the benefit.

[hifiguy]

14. Things like marriage equality and legal weed

don't concern TPTB/corporatists/1%. Anyone who thinks they do is delusional. They don't give a rat's ass about those things, and gunz and gawd issues are just used to stir up the dumb animals who would vote for their own liquidation if it was done in the name of the Repuke party and their moron preachers told them to. What they want are congresscritters and senators and governors who will allow, and actively help, them to dismantle what is left of the country and send it to the Cayman Islands.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

26. correct, I completely agree.

Morality fights are dramatic. Also useful playing chips, while the big deals go on and on behind-the-scenes. Cause suffering in the process? Too bad, price of doing business.

[Earth_First]

39. I've begun referring to these types as The Useful Idiot.

They're strung along and given just enough respect to utilize their usefulness for their exploits...however that's about where the relationship ends...

[Initech]

6. Oh god I am truly scared what will happen if Rand Paul or Jeb Bush gets elected.

The last thing America needs is the BFEE back in charge.

[SomethingFishy]

7. Yeah we can deal with the next two years,

but if we lose the Presidency and they keep the House and Senate, then I will start doom and glooming..

Democrats have been shown that it's not progressive ideas that people hate, hopefully they will learn and grow from that.

[truedelphi]

8. Being Pro-Cannabis Legalisation is not necessarily a Third Way Dem stance.

Here in California, it was Ahnold who got the state a rule that says police can't ahssle you for less than six ounces.

I imagine that Di Feinstein lost her lunch over that one.

And good ol Hillary, she can't stand the idea of her friends in Big Pharma losing profits as people get the right to grow their own.

[SomethingFishy]

10. It sure shows a lean towards liberal policies

you may find the odd "Ahnold" conservative who is for it but Conservatives in general are vehemently opposed to legalization. It's already legal here in Colorado, yet ads ran constantly showing joints being handed out to 6th graders..(some cities trying to ban sales) Typical Republican "Just say no" bullshit. To say it's not a liberal issue is misleading at best. Just because a few Conservatives managed to keep a couple brain cells doesn't make this their issue.

And "Centrist" Democrats like Hillary are the ones that lost this election. California Peggy posted the Truman quote: "When faced with the decision between a Real Republican and a fake one the voters will choose the real one every time.

[iscooterliberally]

27. Joints to 6th graders? That's hilarious!

The first time I smoked a joint I was 12. I voted for medical marijuana here in Florida with the majority, or 57% of the folks who bothered to show up and vote. I smoked pot long before I ever had my own whole beer. I say 'whole' because I used to get beers from the fridge for my dad when I was a little kid. I always took the first gulp before I handed it to him. Pot is so much easier for kids to get when it's illegal. So was cocaine, and crack and all sorts of other nasty things. The drug market doesn't go away just because we make it illegal. All that happens is we hand the control and the profits off to criminal organizations. We would do well to end the drug war all over the world.

[octoberlib]

9. Liberal policies are popular as long as you don't call them liberal.

The average American has been brainwashed to believe that the definition of the word liberal is pinko commie hippie.

[hifiguy]

11. The cognitive dissonance is starting to border on clinical schizophrenia.

People vote for Dem initiatives then turn around and vote for teatalitarians.

This makes no sense.

[grahamhgreen]

12. Because our politicians continually tack right. Voters don't see a clear difference. They stay home.

Meanwhile, the Tea baggers see a clear message, so they vote.

[TM99]

13. The legalization of pot is not a liberal issue.

It is a libertarian one.

This administration has not let up one damned bit on the 'War on Drugs'.

These wins on pot legalization are about the strength of libertarian views within the mainstream GOP and the Tea Party.

And not all 'issues' won in landslides. Arizona passed a prop that will allow the state to backtrack on ACA expansion of Medicaid (called AHCCCS here) that Brewer pushed through. With a Republican sweep of the state apparatus and this prop passing, many are going to lose much need health benefits.

[grahamhgreen]

15. It is a liberal issue. Always has been. So is the minimum wage, which won by large margins.

[TM99]

16. No really it isn't.

Democratic administration are as keen on the War on Drugs as are Republican ones. There are Democrats siding with Libertarians on this issue, but we have to admit they began the fight for legalization.

I don't disagree on the minimum wage and am glad to see in-roads being made in various states to raise it.

[grahamhgreen]

17. I was there in 1977 getting beat up at "Smoke-ins" by police. We were all liberals, not libertarians

They've jumped our parade. Don't let them fool you!

HAHA! Good times! Point out the Libertarians in the crowd, please!

[TM99]

31. Facts.

The first federal laws against marijuana was enacted by a Democratic congress and FDR in 1937.

Libertarians put the California Marijuana Initiative on the ballot in 1972. They also spear-headed the Oregon Marijuana Initiative in 1984 and the California Hemp Initiative in 1994.

Yes, there are liberals who are Democrats, Libertarians, and Independents that support de-criminalization. Some like yourself have been involved for several decades.

But to try and spin this that this is a 'liberal' Democrat win after the GOP decimated the Democratic party last night is bullshit. Things are not rosy and they are about to get a hell of a lot worse.

[JaneyVee]

20. You're confusing Democrats with Liberals.

[deurbano]

24. Yes.

[SomethingFishy]

18. Wrong. It may be a libertarian issue but it is also a liberal issue.

It most certainly is not a Conservative issue. And that was the point of the post.

And the ACA is not liberal either. It was a Republican plan from the beginning. If they start repealing it they can kiss 2016 goodbye.

Using that one vote in Arizona doesn't make your point. You got anything else? Or are you just here to tell me how people just love Conservative issues, like global warming is a hoax, there shouldn't be a minimum wage at all, there should be no paid vacations, teachers should lose their unions, schools should be privatized, we should be moving fill speed ahead on fossil fuels, Social Security and Medicare should be privatized, all illegals should be thrown out, death penalty for drug dealers, we should kill every muslim no matter how long it takes, we should take away food stamps, and housing aid and use that money for tax breaks for the wealthy, the NSA should have unfettered access to everything...

Yeah America loves conservative ideas

[TM99]

28. Snap and snipe at me all you want.

But the truth is the fucking Republican party kicked the Democratic party's ass last night.

And get a grip, NSA spying increased under Obama. SS & Medicare was put on the table by Obama & Democrats. Obama is FOR Keystone and free trade.

Seems that Obama likes conservative ideas as well. Maybe that is why the Dems had their asses kicked?

[Bluenorthwest]

36. That's hi-larious. I'm in Oregon, we just legalized. The Democratic Party and Senator

supported the bill, and many elected Democrats here have advocated legalization not just here but in DC on the floor of the House. Meanwhile our local 'libertarians' are just Republicans voting for idiots who oppose everything and everyone. They are Republicans who pretend they really want to vote for revolution, then they vote for Mitt.
Marijuana reform is, was and always will be the secondary founding principle of the Woodstock Nation. It's an issue far more socialist than libertarian.
Libertarians have been active in the movement and helpful, but then they go vote for John McCain and so their help is of that 'not really worthwhile unless they are rich and give lots' sort.
Oregon elected a shit ton of Democrats while legalizing cannabis. But you say that's about libertarians and the GOP? One Republican candidate for the House lost by over 50% to a Democrat who has long advocated legalization.
Hi-larious.

[TM99]

37. As usual, nothing you write contradicts what I said.

Historical revisionism aside, the Democratic party's embrace of marijuana legalization is a very new platform. It is great to see Oregon take it to its logical conclusion...finally.

Not all Libertarians vote for the right. There are those that are left leaning as well. Independents are the same way.

If Democrats can not get their own base to turn out strongly nationwide during mid-terms, it might behoove them to court the left leaning and progressive minded Independents and Libertarians more.

So telling them that they are not the ones that spear-headed this new 'liberal' issue of decriminalization is not winning any voters' trust.

That's hi-larious!

[AverageJoe90]

19. That is one of the *best* silver linings we have right now.

There is, at least, some hope that we'll learn from our mistakes this year, and even better than after 2010. But it'll take a lot of activism from Democrats on the ground to really get that going, I think. Now comes the real test.

[hedgehog]

21. I hate to ask, since I am in the 60+ demographic,

but how do things change in 2 years? My impression is that a lot of old white people came out to vote Republican. If younger people are with us and would give us the numbers we need, what more can we do to light a fire under them? What happens if we get a candidate to come out and loudly support a lot of the hot button issues?

Hot button issues go beyond marijuana. How effective were ads about minimum wage, about equal wages, about climate change? Were there any ads focused on those issues?

[TM99]

38. The minimum wage issue spoke to all voters because it is

about the economy.

The bottom line as usual is that Democrats have not really done enough for the economy in the last six years. Oh, yes, the stock market is bullish again and at all time highs. That benefits the 1%.

Oh, yes, unemployment is down but high paying jobs are out and low-income jobs and part time jobs are in. But here is the kicker that matters - median weekly earnings in Q3 2014 were $797.00. That is exactly the same as it was in Q3 2007! Yes, exactly the same.

And yet, the average American knows day in and day out that prices are higher - gas, food, clothes (cotton!), etc.

Therefore, the Republicans won. Americans have a very short-term memory. We may be getting more and more progressive on social and cultural issues, and we still have a long history of punishing a party in power that does not make the financial situation of Americans better and better.

The Democrats might do well to pull back some on the social justice warriorship, the neo-con war mongering, and the Third Way neo-liberal Wall Street first economic policies and get some good old fashion FDR style, labor loving, public works style politicians in leadership positions during the next few years.

Sadly, I doubt this will happen.

[muntrv]

22. In the words of Harry Truman....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025769753

[Colorado Liberal]

23. The Colorado results are just screwy

Udall has (so far) 853,496 votes (more than Bennett got in winning his Senate race in 2010). 1,191,908 votes against the latest personhood amendment. That's a minimum of over 330,000 people who voted against personhood but for the "warm and fuzzy" version of Gardner (henceforth to be referred to as Senator-elect "tip of the spear&quot With Udall losing by less than 100,000 votes, that one group (voters who are still opposed to a personhood amendment but voted for the guy who authored it in the House) more than makes the difference. I mean, I know that "tip of the spear's" ads were running in heavy rotation, but 1 in 4 voting against personhood but for him? I got nothin'.

[1StrongBlackMan]

25. On a happy note, I am encouraged by the issues results ...

the 2016 primaries should be very encouraging, should someone ... anyone ... challenge HRC from the left. The issues result suggest that to win, HRC will have to move to the left.

But 2016 is a lifetime from now.

[cali]

29. No, most dems didn't lose by just a smidge. See Nate Silver.

[SomethingFishy]

40. Ok. Doesn't change the point.

[Laelth]

30. Hear, hear! k&r n/t

-Laelth

[demwing]

32. The Republican Wave was a mile wide and an inch deep

but it was still a wave...

If we can go deeper, we can ride that same wave.

What we need is a populist candidate. I don't know if its Warren of Sanders, or someone else. We've got a year to find them, and a year to sell them.

[onenote]

33. I don't know what results you're looking at, but most of our people did not lose by a smidgen

When you look at the races that were thought to be competitive, what is striking is how poorly we did.

Wendy Davis? Around 900,000 (20 percentage points) behind in TX
Michelle Nunn? 200,000 votes (7+%) behind in GA
Kansas -- we lost by 90,000 votes (around 10%).

In fact the closest races that we lost were in North Carolina, where Hagan lost by 50,000 (1.5%) and Florida, where Crist lost by 70,000 votes (1.1%). In contrast, the closest races were ones where a Democrat won by a smidgen: Virginia (less than one percent) and (theoretically) Louisiana, less than 1 percent, with a runoff looming. Democrats consistently ended up with between 42 and 47 percent of the vote in the contested races, except in a few instances (KY, WVA, LA, AR, TX) where we did worse than that.

Let's not pretend this was close. It wasn't.

[Bluenorthwest]

35. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Oregon legalized cannabis also elected Democratic candidates

by large margins. Up to 50%. Merkley by 20% or so. Reelected the Democratic governor. The works. So.....