All together now: challenging a record number of GOP incumbents? Coordinating their message this early? What a little blood in the water will do for a party.(DISPATCHES)

ON ELECTION NIGHT 2002, TV-watching Democrats across America let out a collective groan as then-Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe told CNN's Larry King, "I think it's going to be a very good night for the Democrats." At that point in the evening, it was pretty clear that the elections were not breaking the Democrats' way. In an environment with few competitive races, the party would have needed a pickup of seven House seats to regain control of Congress. Democrats lost six House seats and another two in the Senate, flipping them into the ...