Democrats question what went wrong

As John Kerry basked Wednesday in the final applause of his failed campaign, at a packed gathering in Boston that was nothing short of funereal, supporters shivered in the cold outside and wondered what went wrong.

One distraught man with long hair lofted a sign that read, “Democracy doesn’t work!”

A woman wearing pink tennis shoes carried a poster that read, “Time to secede, not concede.”

Democrats across the country are assessing the damage of Tuesday’s election and trying desperately to figure out how they lost ground in both the House and the Senate, and failed to capture the White House.

“When you feel that the issues are on your side and you don’t win, you have to look at what happened,” said John McCormally, a spokesman for the Iowa Democratic Party, whose state Mr. Bush appears to have carried — the first Republican to do so in 20 years.

“I’m convinced that our side is right on the issues,” he said. “But maybe we’re selling it the wrong way.”

Many other Democrats agreed that Democrats didn’t flub the issues; they flubbed the marketing.

“This election was not about issues,” Democratic strategist Chris Cooper said. “If it were, clearly we would have won.”

Matt Farrauto of the New Mexico Democratic Party blamed the loss on deceptive Republicans.

“When it comes to having a moral compass, our values are more in line with the American people,” he said. “But it’s very difficult to combat the deceptions of the GOP. They don’t seem to have any compunction for honesty.”

Mr. Farrauto said it was “ironic and disingenuous” to portray Mr. Kerry as weak on defense.

Asked whether Democrats were guilty of any such similar attacks, he replied: “We launched attacks, yes. But our attacks were based on fundamental truth. Our attacks were not out of context 100 percent of the time.”

Not all Democrats are downbeat.

Though Mr. Bush won his state, Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Christopher T. Gates said the election of a Democratic senator and a congressman to spots formerly held by Republicans, as well as capturing the state legislature, meant a good night.

“We don’t have to do any soul-searching here in Colorado. We had a huge victory for the Democratic Party,” he said.

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