Makes perfect sense.
The Democrat "victory" was not the victory that an organized campaign with solid plans and good sellable policies would have produced.
The Democrats should have had a clean sweep in the House and the Conservative initiatives on the ballots should have lost but they had no plan and no message. They have power because Republicans lost; not because they won.
Actually, I give Dean, along with Emmanuel, a lot of the credit for winning. Everyone laughed a few years ago when Dean suggested that his party go after the Confederate flag, pickup truck driving, rural folk. Well, his party recruited ostensibly pro-gun social conservatives and they won. Yes, corupt Republicans contributed, but Dean and company provided viable alternatives that otherwise would not have been there.