WaPo profiles defeated Daschle

The Washington Post has an article today headlined "After an Often-Tumultuous Tenure, Daschle Exits Quietly." Excerpt:

"One of the biggest ironies of the election result is that nobody fought harder for his state, thought more about the people of the state or spent more time in his state than Tom Daschle, despite the burdens of national leadership," said Joel Johnson, a lobbyist and former aide to Daschle and Clinton. "I think it's something South Dakotans are going to come to regret."

Daschle constantly reminded voters of his national leadership role, going so far as to run an ad in which a fellow declared that a small town in South Dakota would have died if hadn't been for Tom Daschle. I think many South Dakotans were turned off by this condescending attitude, and I think it was a factor in their voting behavior.

The following passage in the article will real ring particularly hollow in the ears of "progressive" true believers:

Despite the GOP's strong showing last month, Daschle said Democrats should not compromise principles or move to the right -- but instead should stick to their "progressive" principles. He added that the country is narrowly divided, and "it wouldn't take much for the progressive movement in this country to be the majority movement again."

This from someone who consistently moved to the right during this election year, on issues like taxes, abortion, and gun control.