Those days are over. The modern Democrat is extremely partisan and loyal to their party brand beyond all reason.
You seem to have no clue what you are talking about. You are either intentionally blinding yourself or more likely trying to distort things so that they look better for your favorite candidate. Those of us who enjoy watching the presidential election game every four years and have watching it very closely for many decades see it differently. There are many parallels between this election and the election in 1980. There is a level of enthusiasm that has not been seen in many years. In the early stages there are two men fueling this excitement, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.
My wife goes to a Vietnamese “nail salon”. All of the employees are from Vietnam; they all were for Obama previously. This time they are all for Trump. When my wife told me... it surprised me almost as much as it would you. Admittedly they are mostly one issue voters. They all came here legally; each had to wait for years in a third world hell hole before they were able to come to America. They don't like that others are being able to just come here illegally and nothing happens to them. So that is one example, but there are many, many others.
If you look at the campaign events, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are the ones who are drawing the crowds. Hillary is dead in the water. Ted Cruz is trying to generate enthusiasm by doing things like by bringing in Glenn Beck and sending out the ridiculous and offensive “shaming” mailer where he threatens to send out a followup to your neighbors if you don't go to the caucus? Incredible! These moves reek of desperation and the mailer just reinforces the perception that he is not a likable guy.
The only people that Ted gets a lot of excitement from are his hard core followers. Unfortunately if the Free Republic Caucus is any indicator even they are losing momentum. Two weeks ago 175 people voted for Ted Cruz in the “caucus” yesterday it was down to 70 and Trump had a nearly two to one advantage. This is a small sample from a very conservative community but to me it seems like a rough gauge of enthusiasm.
Tomorrow we will start to get a little better idea as to which direction this election is really going. Because the truth is both you and I and everyone else can only speculate at this point. After New Hampshire things will become much clearer. Then we will have Nevada and then South Dakota; if Cruz is unable to take at least one state before Super Tuesday many people will not consider him to be a viable candidate. Iowa has been considered his best chance to do this, so I understand why you are presenting your distorted picture of both history and the current situation and I don't blame you. It really is make or break time for Cruz.