Discouraged, disgusted and restless, some Florida Democrats want Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman's head on a platter.

The liberal website, Saintpetersblog.com, is posting an online petition to fire Thurman after the Party's disastrous showing in this fall's elections.

"We can’t fire the candidates who lost on Tuesday. And it’s not our place to fire the consultants and staffers who work for the Florida Democratic Party. But we can ask for the immediate resignation of the leader who has driven Florida’s Democrats into the political wilderness," the site stated Friday.

"Resign now or be fired now. Either way, Karen Thurman has to go. Now. The fight to regain Florida begins the moment you sign the petition."

The anger is spreading, and recriminations may just be beginning, as the Party reels from the Republicans' record rout.

Democratic faithful wonder how a Party with a 600,000 advantage in voter registration could be shut out in statewide races. Except for the governor's race, none of the contests were close.

While noting that Democrats had a bad year pretty much everywhere in America, University of Florida political science professor Daniel Smith said the state Party suffered from unique dysfunctional divisions.

"The Florida Democratic Party had rifts, tensions and disagreements on mobilization and messaging," he said. "There was a cultural and institutional clash."

The most debilitating division was the split between national "Organizing for America" campaign (rebranded from the 2008 Organizing for Obama operation) and the state Party's "Campaign for Accountability."

Because President Obama's job-approval rating was plummeting throughout Florida, the state Party and its candidates were leery of the "Organizing for America" message.

"For Democrats to hold onto their seats and win they had to distance themselves from Barack Obama," Smith said.

But even that strategy had its limits.

In state House District 11, for example, Democratic Rep. Debbie Boyd openly criticized Obama on the campaign trail. Still, the two-term legislator from Newberry was crushed by Republican Elizabeth Porter.

Smith argues that the state Party miscalculated by making "accountability" its chief election theme.

"People are more concerned about jobs and how to jump-start the economy," he said.

Responsibility for that miscalculation falls on FDP leadership. Thurman, who was elected Party chairman in 2008, is midway through her term, and the fallout from the 2010 election could cut that tenure short.

Within hours of Tuesday's debacle, state Sen. Jeremy Ring, a moderate Democrat from Margate, called for Thurman to resign.

Though county chairmen contacted by Sunshine State News were not willing to criticize Thurman personally or publicly, their restlessness is palpable.

Charles Smith, chairman of the Holmes County Democratic Party in North Florida, complained that the Party "doesn't answer Republican propaganda forcefully enough."

"The GOP sets the tone, and they rally around it. If Democrats don't do something, it will be a disaster," he said.

Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff has refused to speak to Sunshine State News on the record this year. And neither Thurman nor Party Executive Director Scott Arceneaux made themselves available to comment.

But in a statement to the Orlando Sentinel immediately after the election, Jotkoff dismissed any notion of blaming Thurman.

“Chair Thurman is focused on personally thanking everyone who volunteered at our Campaign for Accountability offices across Florida, the grass-roots activists and elected leaders who worked so hard to make the Sunshine State a better place to live, and all of the Floridians who contributed to the Florida Democratic Party over the last several years today.”

Jotkoff declined to comment further.