On the one hand, its been three days so most of us are speculating. On the other hand, the material Marv's pointed to represents some empirical evidence w/r/t youth as does the desperate efforts Dems made to bring out their usual blocs - seein' as how it was pretty clear they weren't gonna come out. Like Marv, I'd be surprised if - like the reduced participation of youth who lean Dem who voted for the excitement of Obama - there was also reduced participation from historically oppressed minorities. It is surely possible that some voters, perhaps swing independents and some union members most specifically, sought to punish the party in power but it strikes me a weird that anyone excited or hopeful about Obama would see anything in Reps, much less TPers... but then again I'm not a member of these groups. I can say, anecdotally, that reading the comments pages on HuffPo, MoveOn, the NYT and beyond - as well as exchanging notes with mainstream Dems I grew up with and went to college and grad school with - mainstream Dems are not pumped about Obama.
^^^^^^^^ CB: You can't necessarily claim that all the youth and oppressed race/nationality stay away voters were disillusioned with Obama. They may not have voted because Obama was not on the ballot.