The PointBy Daniel Greenfield

Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.

And the Democrats in the midterm elections have been preemptively orphaned. From the top on down.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said Monday that he has always thought this year’s elections would be close and that he doesn’t use the term “blue wave” to describe a possible big win for his party. “We always knew that this election was going to be close — I don’t use the term ‘blue wave,’ I always talk about the need for the blocking and tackling,” Perez said in comments on CNN’s “New Day.” “I always talk about the need for organizing, to make sure you’re leading with your values, and that’s how we’ve been winning throughout this year and throughout 2017.”

To translate that succinctly from Politese, “Uh-oh.”

Perez had been pushing a blue wave, but now he’s running away from it. As are others.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) thinks there is reason to doubt the predicted “blue wave” in next month’s midterm elections, saying control of Congress will be decided by a few tight races. “I know a lot of people talk about this blue wave and all that stuff, but I don’t believe it,” Sanders told Hill.TV’s “Rising” co-host Krystal Ball during an interview that aired on Monday. Sanders said he believes that the outcome from Nov. 6 will be a “very, very close” situation and predicts that only a “handful of votes” will determine whether Democrats are able to regain control of the House or Senate.

When Bernie and Tom are both using the same talking points about a close election, you know that’s the new writ.

Part of this is turnout incentive. Nobody wants voters feeling complacent, but they’re also managing expectations. For good reason.

Is the “blue wave” turning purple? Republican-affiliated voters have outpaced Democratic-affiliated voters in early voting in seven closely watched states, according to data provided by TargetSmart and independently analyzed by the NBC News Data Analytics Lab. GOP-affiliated voters have surpassed Democratic-affiliated ones in early voting in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, Tennessee and Texas, the data showed. Only in Nevada have Democratic-affiliated voters exceeded Republican-affiliated voters so far in early voting, according to the data.

Mobs don’t vote. People do.