The election is about six weeks behind us, which is a good time for Democrats to look back and assess what happened.

While several of New York’s congressional races went the Democrats’ way, nationally, things simply collapsed.

Since Nov. 5, we’ve heard a variety of reasons for the Democrats’ lousy performance: DNC Chair candidate Martin O’Malley told CBS that he thinks that the Democrats “need to reconnect to the kitchen table of every American family."

An article in Slate stated some pundits blame the influence of “bumbling, know-it-all leftist elites in media and politics."

The New York Times’ Ezra Klein suggested that the left has allowed special interests to blackmail them into adopting extreme views.

Shontell Smith, partner at Tusk Strategies and former chief of staff and chief counsel to the New York state Senate Majority Conference, weighed in on the future of the Democratic Party nationally and in New York state with Capital Tonight’s Susan Arbetter.