I know Steve's mostly kidding about blaming midterm voters, but, look, more than any time that I can remember I had no idea what the Dem campaign message in 2010 was. There was no national messaging. Vote for Dems... and? We barely even got vote for Dems because they're slightly less evil than the other guys. There was no sense that anything was at stake.
The other side got kenyanmuslimsocialistdeathpanel also, too, he's CUTTING YOUR MEDICARE AND HAVING THE GOVERNMENT TAKE IT OVER. That was enough.
