Naked Capitalism has the article Summer Rerun: Why Is the Left Slice of the Democrats Getting Crushed?

Up until the election, all public polling had shown Sheyman leading by double digits, and Sheyman had outraised and out-enthused Schneider.  Sheyman had as his platform breaking up the banks, ending various wars, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and marriage equality.  He had worked at Moveon, and he proudly called himself a progressive, while attacking Schneider as a closet Republican who had given money to the GOP and voted in Republican primaries.  All of the talking points developed in the course of seven or eight years of internet Democratic politics – “bold progressive”, “people-power”, and “progressive” were on display.  He lost badly.

Some good questions, perhaps.  I am not sure about the answers, though.  It could be that the public is just not ready yet.  Maybe we are still in the building phase.

There is no candidate in Massachusetts right now that has stirred me to action as much as Elizabeth Warren did.  She is on the leading edge of the building phase. Maura Healy is the closest one that I can think of, but the office of Attorney General is just not as stirring as the office of US Senator.

It is tough for a politician to make the case that she or he will make a difference.  Elizabeth Warren got over that threshold.

Otherwise, I am out of ideas on how to explain it or what to do.