Adam B. Lerner is a reporter for Politico.

With the Democrats’ brutal thumping now officially in the history books, Politico Magazine looks back at some of the most egregious examples of mouth-running from the 2014 election cycle.

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Sen. Chuck Schumer on Meet the Press:

“Well, I think we will hold the Senate. You know, I know all the pundits are saying Republicans will take the Senate. Democrats are going to prove the pundits wrong on Election Day when we keep the Senate, three reasons. First and foremost, economic issues predominate. Ebola's in the news, ISIS is in the news, but the average voter, every poll shows far and away, cares most about economic issues. They tend to be for Democrats when economic issues like minimum wage, like equal pay for women, like not sending jobs overseas predominate. Second, we have a much better ground game. You can add two to three points at a minimum…for each of those races. Just about every one of those races. So if it's 44, 43 [percentage points], we're probably ahead. And third, as the race get down to the final moments, the voters focus on the two candidates. Not on the national referendum. When the two candidates are compared almost inevitably, we do better. So economic issues, better ground game, better candidates will put us over the top November.”

( Also on POLITICO: Election results 2014 by state, county and district)

Former Gov. Bill Richardson on This Week :

“The Hispanic vote—everyone’s talking about what they’re going to do. I think that Sen.Mark Udall will pull through because of the Hispanic vote. In Illinois, that’s a growing Hispanic population. I think Gov. Quinn is gonna win that one. Georgia, nine percent of the vote there is now Hispanic. I think that’s going to help Sam Nunn’s daughter… In New Mexico, I’m going to go way out on a limb and predict Attorney General Gary King defeating Susana Martinez…[Republicans] are not doing well because of their very harsh stance on immigration reform.”

Marc Lamont Hill on State of the Union , discussing a Washington Post headline about the protests in Ferguson:

“‘Dubious Practices in Ferguson’ that actually is mobilizing people of color to polls. … In North Carolina that could be a difference maker.”

Barack Obama at a DNC fundraiser:

“We’re gonna make one last push in these last several weeks. We’ve got a lot of just nail-biter races…If we do what we’re supposed to do, then I’m actually confident that we can get it done.”

( POLITICO Pro: Harry Reid to run for minority leader)

Kimberley A. Strassel in the Wall Street Journal :

“Oregon is a perfect example. The liberal state is competitive because it is a stunning microcosm of the Obamacare disaster. The FBI is investigating 'Cover Oregon,' the state online exchange that officials spent three years and $250 million creating, yet which never signed up a person. The cost of health care has soared in the state, and many Oregonians have lost their doctors. The majority of residents hate Obamacare, and Mr. Merkley—a freshman senator who has done little in D.C.—is sitting on way-upside-down approval ratings.”

John Fund in National Review :

“‘Landslide reelection races for governor produce low turnout,’ Harrison Schmitt, a former Republic senator from New Mexico, once told me. That (plus Obama’s 38 percent approval rating) gives Udall’s opponent, businessman Allen Weh, a chance to pull an upset — especially if he pulls money out of his own wallet for last-minute ads.”

Chris Hayes on All In:

“The ground game may save Begich in the end. According to Yahoo News, Democrats have spent, get this, ten times more than Republicans on field operations in the state of Alaska. …This election cycle is the most tightly contested in recent memory, far more than the midterm elections of 2006 or 2010. All of it underscoring the tremendous volatility and potential for last minute shifts. ”

( POLITICO Pro: Larry Hogan beats Brown in Maryland shocker)

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, via CNN’s Deirdre Walsh:

“Point[ing] to a fundraising advantage for Democrats, lower poll numbers for congressional Republicans, divisions inside the GOP ranks, and a good recruiting class of Democratic challengers, [Hoyer] said ‘all of those combined in my view give me great optimism that we're going to win back the House.’”

Fred Yang, Democratic pollster, on Meet the Press:

“The things we need to have happen on Election Day in a lot of these close states is maybe coming into fruition. For a while now there’s been a voter interest enthusiasm gap between Republicans and Democrats. Now Democrats are catching up…With registered voters, which is a broader electorate than likely voters, the Democrats still have a four point edge.”

DNC Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz on This Week:

“I think we’re going to hold the Senate and the reason that we’re going to hold the Senate…is because we have a ground game that, I know [RNC Chairman] Reince [Priebus] would take ours over theirs any day of the week. …Rick Scott is going to go down to defeat on Tuesday.”

( Also on POLITICO: No Obama pivot after midterms)

Mark Halperin on Face the Nation :

“If the Senate’s on the line there’s a chance that…Michelle Nunn could win in the runoffs.”

DSCC Communications Director Justin Barasky, via Fox News :

“Democrats continue to be in a strong position to hold the majority. For the past two cycles, Democrats have outperformed election forecasts and polling averages and are poised to do so once again. Democrats are running stronger, smarter campaigns with better candidates who are focused, not on the politics of fear, but on the issues that matter most to the middle class.”

George F. Will in the Washington Post :

“Given the enormous and growing role of medicine in this aging nation’s economy, it is unfortunate that only three senators are physicians: Wyoming Republican John Barrasso, an orthopedic surgeon, Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn, an obstetrician, and Kentucky Republican Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist. Coburn is retiring, but another doctor [Oregon’s Monica Wehby] may be coming, straight from the operating room to her first elected office.”

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