They could be formidable in the general election, but how do two red state conservative (relatively) Dems win the Democratic Primaries that are biased to deliver a Leftie?
...They can't. They can't win the primaries. You can't really take the morons at DU as Democratic rank and file, but the real Dem rank and file still wants a flaming Leftie or two on their ticket...and flaming Lefties aren't a threat to flip red states to blue.
The Dem activists would *leave* in droves, stay at home in funks of depression, and in general avoid politics if the Dem Party Machine pushed two reasonably sensible choices like Warner and Bayh.
Plus, you've got to keep in mind that the Dems are going to lose from 2 to 5 Senators in 2006. By 2008 they are going to be completely unhinged. You haven't even seen the sort of fratricide that they are going to be visiting upon each other by ought eight. They've grown ever more shrill with each consecutive election loss. Their liberal news media and college professors keep going "double or nothing" with long shot bets that they can back wild-eyed conspiracy and scandal stories successfully, too.
They've simply shown no signs that as a Party or an ideology that they comprehend the magnitude of their own self-inflicted wounds.
On the other hand, every non-conservative Dem I've run across has been pretty entertaining...in a pathetic, delusional sort of way. They seem to have lost most of their "adults" at every level.