It isn't polls or pundits that determines elections... it's what you don't see.
The 2014 bloodbath was the result of weak Democratic candidates playing the Republican's game and wooing the same swing voters the Republicans did with Ads - only with less money and even less effect. When positive, the Ads were insipid, and when negative, lacked the consummate calumny Republicans are so famous for.
The Democratic campaigns assumed their own base would come out in droves on November 4th. They stayed home in droves. Like they always do in midterm elections. The GOP didn't win, the Democratic Candidates lost.
The numbers were there for all to see, dripping down your computer screens. It took less than a half hour from the time results poured in till everybody called the Kentucky Senate Race. From that point: Evictoration.
What you didn't see was the Ground Game. Thousands of Volunteers and Managers hitting the phones, knocking on doors with the same desperate, heroic effort as the Battle for Stalingrad. Sure, most of the Democratic voters stayed home, but any even half-willing to vote voted.
It's heartbreaking, and inspiration-sucking to give it your all only to watch your higher-ups screw the pooch in epic fashion.
But 2014 was not wasted.
From the heat of a doomed battle emerges the leaders, the courageous, the workhorse, the reliable, the imaginative, the believers and the warrior. These are the people who will be running for office, inspiring the base and getting them to the polls in 2016 while the GOP Goons will once again self-implode.
2016 is a Presidential Election, and likely another historic one. The real question is...
When do we start preparing for 2018?