I don't think that's what did them in. It wasn't the moderate message, it was the insider nature of the messenger. Voters wanted an outsider, the Democrats gave them the most inside insider they could possibly come up with. I would say, from your second paragraph, that you have fallen into the trap I'm talking about. Being moderate isn't insincere or muddled. That notion comes from the idea that you have to think just like everyone on your side of the aisle to count as having a firm, consistent world view. And that, frankly, is BS. And I think that mentality, the one you just laid out so perfectly, is such a HUGE part of the problem. Frankly, change a few words in there and you don't sound dissimilar to how Limbaugh talks about rhino's or moderates. That is toxic. I am, however, ok with the country's moderate moving further left. But I also worry about what that means. Elements of the left have gotten so extreme they start to look like the elements of the extreme right. I almost feel like we need to jump off the current spectrum and on to a new, more sane one. Moving right or left on this spectrum seems to end up in the same mess IMO.