The strategy marked a significant departure from previous elections. It's been more than a decade since the minority party managed to field candidates for all congressional, executive-branch and state Senate seats.

But that shotgun approach may have backfired as two congressional candidates, in the aftermath of unsuccessful campaigns, say they were abandoned by the party.

Beau Babka, a South Salt Lake police captain running in the 3rd Congressional District, has a bone to pick with party leaders, but declined to discuss it publicly, saying, "We'll have to work this out within the party."

But his campaign manager was more forthright, blasting the state and national party for dangling the promise of support and then leaving candidates "high and dry."

"There's the obligatory, 'This is what we'll do if you run,' and then it never appears," said Jeff Bell, citing a lack of logistical, financial and volunteer support. "There was just a general lack of communication. The campaign didn't make it onto the Democratic e-mail list until two weeks ago."

First Congressional District challenger Steve Thompson said he harbored no illusions about beating U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, a Republican incumbent in GOP-ruled territory.

"There was no call from on high saying, 'Steve, we want you to fall on a sword for us,' ” said Thompson.

But the three-time Logan City Councilman, said he never imagined how difficult it would be to raise money and find volunteers.

"People in politics eat their young. If you're going to get into politics, you need to be comfortable with that concept. I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican," said Thompson, 46. "But I personally like the approach of preserving party resources for winnable races."

State Democratic Party Chairman Donald Dunn sympathizes with the candidates and said, "It's discouraging when you work hard and get only get 29 or 25 percent of the vote."

Dunn should know, having run for Congress twice, including a losing bid against Babka's opponent, Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon.

But Dunn denies pulling a bait-and-switch on candidates.

"We did more than the party has ever done for campaigns," he said, citing the purchase of phone lists of registered and eligible voters and distributing 22,000 door hangers in the 1st and 3rd districts. "I never made any promises."

The state party is financially and legally limited in what it can do to help candidates. And scraping for every penny this election cycle meant deferring Dunn's paycheck for a few weeks.

Part of the blame falls to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is slow to donate to races where the odds aren't good.

As a result, Babka was hard-pressed to find time between working as a police officer and teacher to raise donations. Cannon outspent him 13-to-1. ThompÂson raised $71,000 to Bishop's $374,000. But he loaned $25,000 of his own cash to the effort.

Still, Thompson has no hard feelings and would even consider running again sometime.

"People have talked to me about running for mayor. But I don't know," said Thompson. "It's exciting that this race is over and that me and my wife can get back to some type of normalcy."