In his first on-camera interview since Election Day, Buck says the overriding question remains: "Why did the Republican wave go over Colorado?"

A national surge propelled Republicans to control the U.S. House of Representatives, including two seats from Colorado, and gains in the U.S. Senate, but Buck lost the country's closest race to Bennet, by roughly 12,000 votes.

Buck says he conceded to Bennet the day after the election because waiting for all the votes to be counted would not have changed the outcome.

"I don't blame anybody or anything out there besides myself," he said in the conversation on Wednesday at the 9NEWS studio. "I think an election's on the candidate and I could have done better in some areas."

"Could I have been a better candidate? Sure. Was I a better candidate toward the end than toward the beginning? Sure. But do I have any regrets? Not at all," he said.

Buck says the polls, both external and internal, showed him leading heading into Election Day. He thinks the Democrats did a better job getting out the vote on Election Day and a great job coordinating their attacks on his campaign all throughout.

"They are very good at coordinating what appears to be an uncoordinated attack," Buck said about the litany of televised commercials attacking him for a variety of positions that all led to the same conclusion: that he was "too extreme for Colorado."

"I said, 'I don't know who that guy Ken Buck is, but I wouldn't have voted for him after watching those commercials,'" he said. "I think a lot of [the results] have to do with the fact the Democrats have figured out the party base has to be outside the party, outside the campaign and Republicans are still trying to do it inside the party."

Buck, who is term-limited from the Weld County District Attorney's office in 2012, is already back at work, at a job he "loves," but did not rule out a future statewide run for office.

"I'm going to make some decisions over the next year as to what I want to do when I grow up," he said.

The first thing he says he needs to work on is losing the 15 pounds he gained during the run for Senate.

His message for his opponent remains the same as it was on the campaign.

"If Michael Bennet votes and governs in an inclusive way, he'll be very much appreciated," Buck said. "If he reaches out to the grassroots on all sides and understands their frustration with where government is going, I think he'll be a fine senator."

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