The Democrats faced a real uphill battle in the 2014 election cycle so losing ground was to be expected. It just didn't have to be the blood bath it turned out to be.
The Democrats did a very good job of recruiting quality candidates -- probably because Obama had a solid record of accomplishments. So, what happened?
Grimes in Kentucky was the poster child for what was wrong. The consulting class for the Democrats sucked. They told Democratic candidates to run away from Obama as fast as they could and in Grimes case she fumbled the softball question of "which candidate did you vote for in 2012 for President". (All she needed to say was "Obama, why"
. And that was repeated in race after race after race.
Ted Cruz will make life miserable for Mitch McConnell while the Tea Party will continue to make life miserable for John Boehner so Americans will see how terrible Republicans are at governing making these gains on the national stage short lived. A bigger problem for Democrats is that they have no farm system. Only 8 States have Democrats in charge of both houses while 30 States have Republicans in charge of both houses. Because so much action on the State level happens in the off-year election this will be a huge problem for many years into the future with the 2018 election being huge as it will be these lawmakers that draw district lines based on census data.
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