By DOUGLAS E. SCHOEN

Sen. Evan Bayh’s stunning decision to retire should serve as more than a wake-up call to Democrats. It should spur a fundamental re-examination and reorientation of the party’s policies, practices and approaches leading into the fall election.

Let’s be clear. The Democratic brand is in trouble—big trouble. There are at least eight Senate seats up for grabs, and another two or three potentially in play, putting control of the Senate in play.

A betting man would have to give pretty good odds that the Republicans at least come away with the eight seats where they are currently either even or ahead in the polls (Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Delaware and North Dakota). The momentum is moving in the Republicans’ direction, and this election will be closer than anything in recent memory and likely produce last-minute swings to the Republicans.

Even without a dramatic swing to the Republicans, the Democratic brand is going to struggle. And when the Senate goes, the House is not likely to be far behind. Analysts can already count 25-30 endangered Democrats in the House, and the number is likely to swell as time goes on.

What then, do the Democrats need to do?

First, they need pro-growth, fiscally conservative policies. The tea party movement is not a Republican movement, and anyone who sees it as such is making a mistake. Rather, the tea party movement is a reaffirmation of a trend that has long been happening in American politics since 1964, with the move away from liberal, big-spending and big-taxing policies. It played out with California’s Proposition 13 in 1978, which limited property taxes there and inspired nationwide tax revolts just two years before Ronald Reagan was elected. It was evident when the Republicans won control of the House and Senate in 1994. And it certainly contributed to George W. Bush’s election and re-election in 2000 and 2004.

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