After every major election, it seems I find myself writing an obituary for the Texas Democratic party. It’s not a true obituary, I suppose, since the Democrats are not exactly dead, just comatose. This year brought a rare combination of considerable early optimism by Democrats, followed by the worst pasting yet by Republicans.Few Democrats could have anticipated what a powerhouse candidate Greg Abbott turned out to be — or, for that matter, what a failed candidate Davis turned out to be. Of all the developments of the campaign, the one that did the most damage to Davis was Wayne Slater’s article in the Dallas Morning News about her biography. Abbott, on the other hand, emerges from the election as one of the strongest leaders the state has seen in years, and a welcome contrast to the long Perry governorship that is approaching its final days.