But in the wake of the "shellacking" that Mr. Obama said Democrats received in the 2010 midterm elections, groups like Third Way have predicted a return to centrist politics.
In the 2006 midterms, outside groups not affiliated with political parties spent $51.6 million; so far this year, such groups have spent $280 million.
In the midterms, both groups voted in record numbers, contributing to Democratic flipping of Republican-held seats in Arizona and Nevada.
After the midterm elections, the group hired Ms. Przybylski and Ana Puig, another activist, who called their group the Kitchen Table Patriots, to lobby for a school choice bill here.
Shortly after the 2010 midterm elections, a group of frustrated Democratic Senate freshmen — led by Jeff Merkley, of Oregon, and Tom Udall, of New Mexico — mounted an unexpectedly serious campaign against the filibuster.
With just three weeks left before the upcoming midterm elections, a group called "Kansans for Justice" surfaced with the aim of persuading voters to oust two of their state Supreme Court justices.
In the Congressional midterm elections, Tea Party groups in more than a half-dozen states helped upset the candidates endorsed by the Republican establishment.
There has been a nationwide surge in TV ad spending for the midterms, which one group projects could top out at $3 billion this year, up from $2.7 billion in 2008.
In the 2010 midterm elections, independent groups spent more than $300 million, matching the amount spent in the previous presidential campaign, during which much more is typically spent.
In response to the lack of excitement around the midterm elections, some groups are trying controversial tactics to shame people into voting, and Colbert says he's all for this "emotional blackmail" -- as long as you agree with his politics that is.
