Democrats appear to be conceding any serious attempt to regain control of the House in 2014, instead focusing their efforts on retaining their Senate majority. No one has publicly admitted that they can’t win the 17 seats necessary to control the lower chamber, but Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is certainly noncommittal about the party’s chances: “I’m not going to confidently predict that Democrats will take the House back,” she said after the State of the Union. A number of the party’s big donors are also turning their attention toward key Senate races. Naturally, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office continues to insist that the House is still in play, and House Democrats currently enjoy a fundraising advantage over their Republican counterparts. However, the retirements of Henry Waxman, George Miller, and five other House Democrats indicate that the feeling on the ground is quite different.

The damage done by ObamaCare is a significant factor in Democrats’ poor prospects in 2014. Waxman and Miller, along with retiring Senators Max Baucus and Tom Harkin, all played significant roles in passing the horrendous legislation, and they have all decided to get out while the getting’s good. The law is becoming increasingly unpopular, and recent news indicating a growing gap between sign-ups and actual enrollments won’t improve the situation. Republicans should continue hammering the issue as they make a play to take the Senate in the fall.

Senate Democrats will have to defend five seats in states where Barack Obama is unpopular, and a number of them are distancing themselves from him. Sens. Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana have passed up opportunities to appear with the president in their states, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Natalie Tennant, who is looking to claim the open seat left by West Virginia’s retiring Jay Rockefeller, have both criticized Obama’s energy policy in a coal state particularly abused by Obama’s EPA.

The pending candidacy of Sandra Fluke to replace Waxman in Congress indicates just how dire things have become. Fluke, you recall, became a leftist poster child in 2012 for insisting to Congress that she – and every other young woman in America – desperately needs “free” birth control. She has since moved to California to become a “social-justice advocate,” and is considering a run for Waxman’s seat. The ObamaCare contraception mandate Fluke supported has been the spearhead of an attack on religious liberties in this country and the focus of many lawsuits. So if Fluke is one of the Democrats’ shining stars in 2014, then they are in sorry shape indeed.

> Update: From the LA Times, “Democratic attorney and activist Sandra Fluke has decided against running for retiring Rep. Henry A. Waxman’s congressional seat, instead planning a bid for the state Senate.” Democrats are reportedly heartbroken.