19.88, 27.51, 31.01 31.81, 32.2, 32.77

I finally feel free.

Election results are in. I lost. In fact, not only did I lose, every single Democratic candidate in contested elections in Weber and Davis counties lost. Democratic incumbents in Salt Lake County lost. Our great hope this election, the man whose campaign many believed early on would raise all ships with his rising tide, received 31.81% of the statewide vote.

That's compared to the guy who most wrote off as a sacrificial lamb, a shrinking political violet, a political novice and sometime Republican, who won 32.77% of the statewide vote. For my part, I received almost exactly the same share of the vote in my house district as Peter Corroon did statewide, 31.01% compared to Peter's 31.81%. Precinct-level data should better reveal how I did compared to other candidates among similar voters.

On the county level, I received 32.2% of the Weber County vote. Was it a blow to my so delicate ego? Sure was. Then again, longtime Democratic incumbent legislator Neil Hansen lost his re-election bid. Betty Sawyer lost her race by a ten point margin. From what I can tell, Weber County Democrats performed on average ten percentage points lower in this election than they typically do.

Among Davis County voters, I pulled in 27.5% of the vote. Yes, I was dreaming of 37%. But I think certain other Democrats in one of Utah's most solidly Republican strongholds, who had delusions of winning vast sections of the Republican vote, were more disappointed in their totals. One exceptionally good candidate received all of 19.88% of the vote. This after receiving over $1,300 in campaign contributions from the Davis and Utah Education Associations (Groups whose behavior this election toward me was, in my view, exceptionally untoward. Seriously, the DEA stopped returning my calls and emails just two weeks after I was told they would support my campaign and had authorized funding for it. But I suppose I didn't get into politics to get in with folks who would be honest with me.).

There's a great debate occurring right now among some of our losing candidates about what we should have done differently. Some are calling for us to double down on the negative, exposing Republican malfeasance and corruption in our state with all the vigor and recklessness of Darrell Issa. Go ask Peter Corroon how well that played with Utah voters.

For my part, I tend to think that turnout is still the key to doing well in elections. While the VoteBuilder information isn't available yet for the general election, I strongly suspect that, based on the early voting trends, that Republican base and GOTV voters simply swamped Democrats at the polls on election night. Our base was frustrated by the weak economy and a President and Congress seemingly impotent to fix it. Young voters, aged 30 and younger, simply didn't turn out to vote.

Regardless of the candidate or the message, Democratic candidates in Utah lost because Republican voters in Utah overwhelmingly outnumbered Democratic voters at the polls. A strong Democratic candidate might have been able to swing as many as ten percent of moderate voters; a good one, five. But when Democrats like Trisha Beck lose, it's not because the candidate had a bad strategy, a bad message or fell short on effort. External factors, beyond the candidate's control, motivated big swings in turnout.

Two years ago, I heaped the blame for poor Democratic performance on the state Democratic party. Despite worse performance by Democrats at the polls this year, I actually blame the state party less. The statewide coordinated campaign this year was the best organized Democratic effort I've ever seen. Candidate trainings and conference calls, all initiated by the state party, were frequent and informative.

I still think that charging legislative candidates for VoteBuilder access is crappy. As is charging legislative candidates for booth space at the state convention. But the state party's organizing and candidate outreach gets an E for effort in my book this year. A bad economy is to blame for Democratic losses.

So what do Democrats do to make gains in two years? Hunker down for now. Hope the economy turns around. And double down on organizing.

I knocked on hundreds of doors this season. Because we were targeting GOTV segments, the reception I received was almost always polite. But in 80% of cases, the folks I approached didn't know me or anyone else on my canvassing team. Had I been walking in a given precinct with someone who lived in that precinct, who knew and was known by more voters whom we approached, I believe we could have done more to swing those moderates who could be swung, and done much more to encourage those to vote who could have been persuaded to vote.

The good folks at the Corroon office and in OFA spent hundreds of hours calling Democrats to get them to volunteer. While I believe that's what they had to do, as a legislative candidate, I'd start with the folks who show up at the caucus meetings. I did a poor job recruiting volunteer support at my caucus meetings. If I were to run again, I'd do everything I could to simply commit each attendee to walk with me, in their neighborhood, for just two hours. The folks at the caucus wouldn't even need to say anything at any particular door. Just stand by me. And before the caucus, I'd do everything I could to work with the legislative chairs and hosts to turn out as many caucus attendees as humanly possible. I'd host events during the summer to keep in touch with the caucus attendees. A more personable candidate than me would hold "cottage meetings" and even community debates.

As much as Democrats like to villainize their Republican counterparts, in this election, the Republicans were unquestionably better organized and more enthusiastic than the Democrats were. If our party, and if we as candidates, are to make gains in the future, we need to organize. The state and county parties are certainly important in that effort, particularly in areas where new Democratic candidates show up each year and are currently starting from scratch in their organizing efforts.

Two other things could help boost turnout: 1) Statewide same-day voter registration; and 2) Mail-in ballots and ballot chase. Same-day voter registration, of course, must be enacted by the legislature. Mail-in ballot efforts can be implemented by the county and state parties.

Of course, all this is coming from a guy who slipped to 31% of the vote in 2010 from his predecessor's 38%. It's also coming from a guy who actually posted a gain in 2010 over 2006 in Davis County (one of only two Democrats in the county to do that), and the guy who posted the smallest decline in 2010 over 2006 of any candidate in Weber County.