I have held off posting anything publicly on the election because with an event which combines this level of surprise with this traumatic a nightmare, I wanted to take some time to reflect, analyze, and hear what others were thinking before I rushed in and vomited my emotions all over my desktop. So having gone through that process, here's some initial thoughts, with a full acknowledgement that we will need to be analyzing all this for years to come.
Let's start with a couple of caveats. First, there is no doubt whatsoever that FBI Director Comey's inserting himself into the election changed the basic structure, dynamics, and narrative of this race, making Hillary's emails the number one thing people were talking about in the last nine days of the campaign. Second, the announcement of 25% average health care cost increases a few weeks out hurt us as well, making it tougher to argue that all was well in ACA-land. If either or both of those had been different we would have won the presidential race pretty easily and the Senate majority along with it, and probably would have picked up at least 15 seats in the House rather than just six. But the bottom line is that campaigns have to deal with the hand they are dealt, so we have to look at what actually happened. The fact is we Democrats made some mistakes and absolutely still should have won this race.
