His acceptance speech at the convention sounded a populist message, attacking HMOs and oil and insurance companies. By October, his message was muted. Who got to him?

This argument is posted here every week, stating that it was the "DLC's fault" that the Democrats lost Congres in 1994. That is simply not true. The Democrats lost the Congress in 1994 due to these three factors:

1. The 1990 redistricting:

The 1900 redistricting resulted in the creation of minority-majority districts. These districts packed in populations that were 70%-80% minority in some places. These districts often looked like snakes, parasites, weird shapes, and intestines. They often ran across for hundreds of miles, connecting disparate populations whose only connection was race--cities and towns that had no real similiar geopolitical interests.

The results were that many white Democrats ended up with districts that were more Republican. The creation of one or two heavily Democratic districts basically bleached the surrounding districts into conservative white Republican bastions.  Some of them lost in 1994, while others barely held on.

2. The south's realingment to the GOP:

Secondly, in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, the final wave of "old southern Democrats" left over from the Solid South era finally retired or died. Democrats like Claude Pepper, Charles Bennett, Jamie Whitten, Sonny Montgomery, William Natcher, Butler C. Derrick, Earl Hutto, Jack Brooks, Don Bevill, and Dante Fascell finally died or retired. They had been able to hold onto their districts even though the demographics had turned steadily Republican. What kept them in office was their own popularity even though their districts had been voting Republican for most offices for decades. When these districts finally became open they turned Republican, even though they should have flipped as early as the 1950s and the 1960s. What kept them Democratic was the popularity of the incumbents.

3. The first two years of the Clinton adminstration:

The first two years of the Clinton administration did not turn out well. The failed healthcare plan, Whitewater, Paula Jones, Somalia, the Branch Davidan siege, the Assualt weapons ban, the budget bill that had tax increases, environmental laws, the House Banking Scandal, and the death of Vince Foster all led to the GOP takeover. Those scandals, both real and imagined, turned the voters en masse against the Clintons.

So it wasn't the DLC's "fault" that the Democrats lost Congres in 1994. It was due primarily more to the 1990 redistricting and the long-term political realignment of the south to the GOP. Those two factors, plus Clinton's dismal first two years, turned the Congress to the Republicans. There were many more compelling causes at hand there.