Darcy Burner's press conference this morning was a bit odd.

Burner came out to a room jammed full of supporters and media cameras and delivered a four-minute speech in which she tried to sound upbeat but looked a little misty-eyed. She clearly had not wanted to concede -- saying there were still many votes to be counted -- and did not want to speculate much on why she narrowly lost.

As she had for much of her campaign against Republican Dave Reichert, Burner focused on the national picture, and celebrated the new Democratic majorities in Congress.

"I think it will be a wonderful thing that for the first time in six years we will have some integrity and accountability again in the halls of the Congress, and for the first time in the history of Washington's 8th District, Democrats came together and made this the most competitive race that this district has ever seen."

She also thanked her supporters for waging a scrappy underdog campaign.

"This has been an incredible journey. Two years ago when I started this race nobody thought it was gonna be possible for us to even come close but we, you and I, knew what was at stake in this election and we believed what was possible."

Burner finished her brief speech by saying "this isn't an end, it's a beginning" and thanked her volunteers and donors. Then she walked off without answering any questions, much to the irritation of reporters in the room.

After walking outside for several minutes to chat with supporters, Burner reconsidered and returned to take some questions. But she did not have many answers.

When asked why voters did not send her to Washington, D.C., Burner paused. "Well," she said, and then laughed a bit nervously. "It's a good question."

She said, "Obviously it's still close. We don't know how close it will be." Then she grew more animated, gesturing as she recounted the massive GOP effort it took to save Reichert's seat.

"It was certainly the case that the Republicans threw everything they had into keeping this seat: $6 million in Republican expenditures, the President, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, the First Lady, Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove -- and with that they barely kept it."

When asked whether she will run again for political office, Burner said the only thing she knows for sure is she's taking her young son to Disneyland.

After the press conference, Burner's campaign manager, Zach Silk, told me Reichert was one of a "set of Republicans" in supposed swing districts who managed to survive the Democratic wave this year.

He said they did it in large part because they got so much help from the national party.

"The only common thing that I can see about them is the amount of money that was spent on their behalf to diminish their challengers."

If there was a bright side for Burner's supporters, Silk said, it's that districts like WA-08 gobbled up a lot of Republican energy and cash.

"What it created was those became the frontlines, the candidates like us, and then all these other challengers they couldn't spend money on swept in. So you've got places like rural Minnesota and Kansas and just unusual places that were flipping."

Silk credited a couple late ads in particular with helping to knock Burner down in the public's mind. The first was an ad quoting newspaper editorials critical of Burner, which ran heavily in the closing days of the campaign. The second was an NRCC ad which made Burner look like some kind of evil zombie - a Democrat zombie who would raise your taxes.

Diane Tebelius, state Republian chairwoman, did not return my phone call this morning, but issued a statement: "Dave Reichert won based upon his 35 years of distinguished service to the community and for his independent voting record," said Tebelius. "The Republican Party's get-out-the-vote effort also played a major role in the election."

Meanwhile, some Democrats have to be wondering whether they blew a shot at taking the 8th because of Burner's lack of political experience.

State Rep. Ross Hunter had been considered a possibility but declined to run, in part because he was diagnosed with cancer. Other locals with business backgrounds were also courted by the Democrats. But in the end, it was the relatively inexperienced Burner who took the chance.

I called Benjamin von Ullrich, chairman of the 48th Legislative District Democrats, who admitted a more experienced candidate might have closed the gap on Reichert. "I've wrestled with that myself," he said.

But Ullrich reminded me that Burner got into the race in 2005 -- when few anticipated how far President Bush and Congress would plummet in popularity.

"I think the experienced politicians looked at it and said 'Republicans are still strong, Reichert is still popular, why would I run?' Politicians like to win. They don't like to lose."