As bad as things are for Democrats this year, fact is, we're still in the game, the battleground races are tight, and there's still a very real chance that we can greatly minimize the damage. Witness the round of polling released by CNN a couple of days ago:
Florida:
Governor
Rick Scott (R) 42
Alex Sink (D) 49
Senate
Marco Rubio (R) 36
Charlie Crist (I) 34
Kendrick Meek (D) 24
Ohio:
Senate
Rob Portman (R) 40
Lee Fisher (D) 42
California
Governor
Meg Whitman (R) 48
Jerry Brown (D) 46
Senate
Barbara Boxer (D) 48
Carly Fiorina (R) 43
Kentucky
Senate
Rand Paul (R) 46
Jack Conway (D) 46
And back to that Gallup weekly tracker, which went from GOP +10 to even this week, it could be float within the MoE, or it could be something else -- the Democratic base coming home.
[L]ooking at Gallup's breakout of the generic by party, we see most of the movement comes from Democrats consolidating the base. In the current poll, 93% of self-identified Democrats say they are voting for the Democratic candidate, up from 88% in the previous wave. Republican support for the Republican candidate dropped just slightly (96% to 93%). The difference in base consolidation is now even, for the first time in a month. The chart below shows this metric since Gallup began nightly tracking in March.
Don't celebrate yet. That could all be float within the MoE. But the trends are certainly look good. Remember, the intensity gap is the game. The more we narrow it, the weaker the gains the GOP will make. And losing 25 seats (about the historical average for the party of a first-term president) would actually be a progressive victory if the bulk of that lot are obnoxious Blue Dogs, not to mention the GOP infighting after having measured the drapes in the Speaker's office.
There are very few places in this country where we don't have a tough and competitive race to engage in. You can give to our O2B candidates, give to your local candidates, start working your social circle, getting people ready to vote.
We have to narrow the enthusiasm gap, and if we don't do it FOR Democrats (and they've given us little to work with), then we do it to keep the Sharron Angles, Rand Pauls, Joe Millers, Marco Rubios, and Ron Johnson out of the Senate (not to mention the myriad teabagger wackos running for the House).
And really, no matter how frustrating the last year and a half was, a Boehner-run House will be 1,000 times worse. We've had plenty of time to bitch about our incompetent Dems. Now its time to get down to business and make sure they aren't replaced with incompetent -- and dangerous! -- Republicans.