The youth vote did not materialize. On the the other hand, the GOP's largely unacticipated share of the huge turnout increase was due in large part to the same sex marriage referenda on the ballots in 11 states. The primary impetus (or best excuse for the right, take your pick) for those intiatives getting on the ballots was the huge backlash resulting from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome's grandstand play for local support and national recognition. Newsome handed the rabid right its best organizing tool of the election season on a silver platter.
I am a firm supporter of gay rights. I'm also a firm opponent of prayer in the schools, but recognize it would be political suicide to allow it to become a centerpiece of the debate in an election season. Until the left recognizes and embraces a movement of the whole, as opposed to its many fractured causes, the left will not win.