Last night I sat in Tallahassee watching election returns slowly report from around the state, while visions of 2000 kept me on edge for hours as Florida precinct results began to take shape. Slowly, the president’s national margin of victory in the Electoral College grew wide enough to call in his favor.

This morning, throughout Florida and across America, Republicans are wondering how it all went so wrong for them.

Allow me to lay it out for the state’s Republicans. The obstructionist Republican-led Congress left many Americans weary of gridlock and sympathetic to President Obama’s determination. In Florida, Romney was unable to overcome negative associations with Rick Scott, the unpopular Republican governor.

Americans sifted through the spin and sorted out the facts from the noise to grasp the true measure of President Obama’s accomplishments. The addition of new jobs, the slow but steady growth of the economy, and the incremental reduction of the deficit all told a story of a man determined to turn the tide after eight years of financial freefall.

The electorate knows President Obama’s global approval rating is an indicator that we are on the right track with foreign policy.

President Obama’s steady demeanor and rock solid presence in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy reassured a nervous nation that we are in good hands with this man in the White House. In Florida, images of storm devastation resonated across party lines.

Voters want to keep the benefits that will help all Americans enjoy the full implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act. Florida voters would vote against the constitutional ballot amendment that would have undermined the intent and implementation of Obamacare in the Sunshine State.

Everyone said President Obama had the ground game to beat all ground games. This was certainly the case in Florida. The sheer volume of staff and volunteers spread out across the Sunshine State alone all but guaranteed Florida’s 29 electoral college votes for President Obama.

Both sides had money. There was star power. The media-hyped enthusiasm gap dissolved during the final days leading up to Nov. 6. Voters swarmed the polls, standing in lines for hours, snarling traffic and otherwise wreaking havoc at early vote locations.

In the final days of the campaign, the phone calls were constant. The final push from the Obama campaign featured exciting surrogate calls that elicited expressions of delight on social media. High profile concerts with Obama supporters Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, and Stevie Wonder helped to bring the enthusiasm to a fever pitch.

Through it all, the “Great Explainer”, the Big Dog himself – Bill Clinton – was a campaign road warrior for the Obama operation.

During a Tallahassee campaign staff, former President Clinton expanded on points expressed during his acclaimed Charlotte national convention speech. Citing the work of Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, a conservative Republican, he made the case for the economic progress made by President Obama.

Referring to the book, co-written by Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart, “This Time It's Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly,” Clinton asserted that Obama was halfway through a turnaround projected to take eight to 10 years.

The impact of a late October surprise in the form of candidate Romney’s misfire on the Chrysler jeep ads only helped to build the burgeoning Obama momentum. From the release of the job numbers, the master stroke of solid post-Sandy response, and the fall out from Romney’s miscalculation on the Jeep ads, all the signs began to point toward an Obama victory.

We also cast our eyes to the horizon and look ahead to 2016. In Florida, Democrats first face the 2014 battle to win back the Governor’s Mansion. The increased visibility and increased role of Romney surrogates like Marco Rubio and Adam Putnam will certainly have an impact on Florida’s political landscape over the next few years.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz will surely pass the reins at the Democratic National Committee to someone else. Her role and influence on the 2014 gubernatorial race is yet undetermined. Wild card Charlie Crist has everyone in Florida guessing his next move.

Where does that leave Democrats, progressive Democrats in particular, for the next few years? After we focus our attentions on the pending reorganization of the Florida Democratic Party and the gubernatorial primary season, we all look forward to a potential successor to keep the White House in Democratic hands in 2016.