You’ll have to go back to the days when Senator and Democrat nomination hopeful Gary Hart got caught changing his mind about offshore drilling to find those.
It was during the election of Clinton (another charismatic southerner with womanizing issues ... and so much more) that the press finally got it in their heads that they could swing elections for Democrats. From then until now it’s been a steady slide downhill for them. Nowadays the wagons circle themselves around Democrats.
Nice turn of phrase. :)