A 67% record of voting with Dems is nothing to really brag about but it's hardly GOP territory. The problem with Cuellar is that refuses to acknowledge that he is part of a partisan institution. Being a Democrat carries duties that he didn't want to acknowledge.

He endorsed & campaigned for Bush in 2000 & against fellow Dems, openly told the Democratic congress that his vote wasn't a given and that the Democrats would have to earn his vote, sneeringly dismissed important progressive Democratic interest groups & constituencies & made it well known that he's more proud of being Bush's favorite pet Democrat than with identifying with his Democratic peers in the house. It wasn't jst the netroots that disliked this guy, almost the whole of the DNC establishment got behind his primary challenger. The DNC, usually being neutral if not partial to incuments in these matters had to really dislike Cuellar for them to do something that unprecedented.

The interesting thing will be to see what Cuellar does now. Not only were the party activists against him, but the entire party establishment stricture too. He seems to be friendless. Does he take a lesson from his nailbiting primary challenge & try to make peace with the party establishment? or does he figure his most dangerous days are behind him & continue to put himself above the party.