"I always vote ... but I can sympathize with those who saw extraordinarily little reason to do so this year."
They are the reason we lost the Senate.
Well, we really weren't doing anything all that spectacular with it lately.
The real reason is that the Republicans in the Senate gave them no good reason to vote for them except, "we suck less than dems." That worked in 2002 and 2004. It finally ran out of steam in 2006.
Look, I voted. In fact, I ran the GOTV effort for the southern half of a big county. Last night was the first night I have had more than three hours sleep for about a week.
The point is, I stayed involved. But, honestly, I can't blame the folks who didn't vote. Blaming voters for staying home is scapegoating the wrong folks. You need to blame the politicians that took power and then, instead of advancing the interests of their constituents, used it to shovel pork for four years and take payoffs from Jack Abramoff.
Even with that, the R's suck less than the dems. The dems are beyond awful, even if they were honest. But you want a big turnout? Give your base a reason to vote.