Turnout Reports Alarm Democrats: Obama Plans Election Post-Mortem

We're seeing scattered reports around the country of weak Democrat turnout in battleground states. At the Scranton Times Tribune, "Turnout steady, voters cite negative campaigning as Election 2010 theme." And at Ballot Box, "Endangered Democrat: 'Turnout isn't where we need it to be'." And especially, at Washington Wire, "Coons Camp Expresses Turnout Worries" (via Memeorandum).

Turnout is stronger elsewhere around the country. Either way, President Obama, bracing for the worst, is planning a major national address tomorrow. At NYT, "The President Plans a Post-Mortem":

President Obama plans to talk about the results of Tuesday’s elections at a news conference Wednesday afternoon in the East Room of the White House, his staff announced.

Aides said they expected Mr. Obama to call for an end to the division that characterized the campaign and for a renewed focus on bipartisanship to solve the nation’s economic and other problems.

The White House is bracing for a bad night, anticipating an outcome that has virtually every political specialist predicting that the Democrats will lose the House but possibly hang on to the Senate. The White House wants to use the news conference the next day to help Mr. Obama reframe his presidency and signal that he heard what the voters were trying to tell him.

More at the link.

President George W. Bush fired Donald Rumsfeld after the 2006 midterms, and it's not clear that Obama will go that far, although he should and then some.