How the Democratic Party Lost Its Way

[FarCenter]

I made my first visit to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 1998, when I was campaign manager for a longshot candidate running against an entrenched incumbent. By the time we left the building, we felt empowered and connected. We had a campaign roadmap that offered organizational and financial benchmarks, a point of contact with the committee, weekly talking points and an organization behind us that made introductions and offered advice when we needed it.

Fast forward 18 years. This time, I’m the congressional candidate running in a longshot North Carolina district in a year that many people thought might be a Democratic sweep. By now, I’d been to the DCCC numerous times to introduce candidates or meet with staff. Most of those experiences were similar to that first visit. But in 2016, things were different. I didn’t hear from the DCCC during the first six months of my race. After the primaries, I reached out to them. But despite leaving numerous messages on both email and answering machines, I never got any response. When I eventually used my Congressional connections to get an audience, I took my pollster and media consultant to a meeting that lasted all of 15 minutes. We left with little more than a list of reasons why the DCCC wouldn’t be helping our campaign.

Outside, my pollster quipped, “At least he could have blown a little smoke up our ass.”

I’ve spent 20 years working on political campaigns, and the political organization I encountered in 2016 was an utter disappointment. Back in the ’90s when I started out, the DCCC was tasked with contesting as many races as possible and providing staff, training and direction to the campaigns in the field. Today, they’re narrowly focused on a small number of highly targeted races. Other campaigns get little attention or support.

Democrats need to be sharper going into the next election cycle. With a 50-plus seat deficit in the House, the party will have to win more than just the most competitive seats. They’ll probably need a wave in which they figure out how to win some longshot races. That won’t happen unless the party actively recruits good candidates around the country and treats them with respect and encouragement. And it also won’t happen unless the party provides campaigns—especially in the toughest districts—with the training, support and infrastructure to create or take advantage of opportunities.

Democrats are going to need to seriously up their game if they hope to claw their way back to the majority. Maybe my experience with the DCCC over the years can help them find their way.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/how-the-democratic-party-lost-its-way-214514

[spanone]

1. or, how russia stole the election for trump. 2.8 million more votes for Hillary.

sounds like someone else lost their way.

[Kingofalldems]

2. Exactly---treason has been committed by republicans.

Go after them.

[FreakinDJ]

3. Doesn't mean you have to make it easy for them

[FarCenter]

5. Lack of balance; running up a 30% margin in CA and a 20% margin in NY did her no good nationally

[uponit7771]

13. nationally her voting numbers are matching Obama's 2012 win total, this election was hacked

[davidn3600]

15. Bullshit!

1996- Bill Clinton win





2016- Donald Trump win

[uponit7771]

16. counties don't vote... you know that right?

[FarCenter]

17. States do.

[uponit7771]

20. People do and Clinton's voting numbers are matching Obama 2012 numbers except in voter suppression

...states.

That on its face looks stupid

[davidn3600]

19. Oh yeah, im sorry.....

The only votes that matter are in the cities.




In 1996, Bill Clinton won 1,527 counties which was nearly equal to Bob Dole.
In 2008, Barack Obama won 875 counties.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton won only 487 counties.


Yep. The Democrats don't have to change anything. It's the Russians that causing us to lose rural voters.

Keep believing that. The GOP will keep winning.

[uponit7771]

21. No, people matter ... it should be one vote one person and its not. Voter suppression works

[davidn3600]

26. It's never been "one person, one vote" and likely never will be

We have ALWAYS had an electoral college that picks the president. It's been that way for nearly 230 years.

We are not a democracy nor did the founding fathers want us to be. America is a Constitutional Republic.

[uponit7771]

27. With the VRA and less voter suppression it has been closer to one person one vote... with the guttin

... of the VRA we get this bullshit.

No postmortem without the CIA information included... no way we can look inside when we're being stabbed on the outside

[SticksnStones]

25. So you believe it was her message that was lacking

Rather than the volume and frequency of the false and/or exaggerated counter message that influenced voters?

Interesting takeaway.

[davidn3600]

29. Fake news is not new

Ben Franklin created a fake newspaper edition to influence the public opinion in Britain right after the Revolution. He also known to exaggerate headlines during the war to make the Brits look bad.

The Catholic Church created fake news in the middle ages to increase their power.

Go to the checkout lines in the grocery store and you'll see headlines that range from "New Evidence Suggests the Queen Killed Princess Diana" to "Elvis is Alive and Well and Selling Insurance."

After 9/11, the most popular book in France suggested the US government fired a cruised missile at the Pentagon to ramp up a war effort.
The Bush administration was pushing a story that Niger was selling yellowcake Uranium to Saddam Hussein. A story proven false, yet our politicians kept using the story to justify war.

Even the Discovery Channel will have fake documentaries claiming Mermaids and Big Foot is real.

None of this is new!

[Kingofalldems]

35. So the repubs are okay then?

Looks like a little deflection going on here.

[SticksnStones]

23. I'm curious...what's the source for these maps? nt

[Cha]

10. Exactly spanone..

The Russians, the FBI, the M$M/fox/hate machines were determined to take her down. Not to mention voter suppression in red governed states.. Voter purges, ballots not being mailed, wikiDamnLeaks, KKK, those who are so gullible they let themselves be brainwashed by the Quack. Did I mention Comey 11 days out from the election?

And, those who thought more of themselves than the Planet and sat home.. and those like susan sarandon who have more than enough money so they won't get hurt by the ravaging of our country and Planet.. they voted Green and we got a gd climate change denier in the WH.

Yeah, those who want it burned down completely aren't thinking of our Planet and all the poor souls who will die without health care and will be without shelter and enough food to eat.. it's extremely selfish.

I'm not impressed by those coming around to the mourn the Dem Party.

President Obama is @ 56% but .. oh the poor Dems. All I see is those with an agenda trying to tear us down. It ain't working.

[spanone]

14. i don't see any point in doing an 'autopsy' on the dem party till the patient is dead.

[Cha]

18. lol

well said! It's alive and kicking.. just quack is sucking all the oxygen out of the air now but we are the majority population and we have some excellent brains working for us.

[LAS14]

4. This is something we need to worry about.

I went to my first town committee meeting last week, hoping to get involved in some activity to rejuvenate the Democratic party. Get some folks involved without gray hair (as they seem to be doing in California). The moderator led off by observing that there's not anything we can do in Washington, so let's make sure Massachusetts is a model of Democratic values. We proceeded to spend most of the meeting listing all of the liberal issues we could think of on a white board. It was a list any one of us could have generated in our sleep. A handful of us tried to get issues relating to bringing back Dems from the hurting middle of the state, but the moderator wouldn't even put that on the list because.... because??? Not sure why... because it was still at the stage of being a problem with no answer.

Very discouraging. I'm looking for people/movements to support. Any suggestions?

[Dustlawyer]

6. Bernie's movement is and will be a populist one.

He is bringing in new blood to run for office that is pledging not to be beholding to donors by only taking mo new raised by Bernie's national fundraising group. They need help raising money for these candidates so the candidates can concentrate on campaigning, not fundraising.

At the root of most of our problems is the legal campaign bribes we allow the wealthy to make to our representatives. I anticipate a huge backlash if Trump is allowed to take office with this cabinet. Americans will hopefully be ready to get the corporate influence out of our government. The populist uprising from both parties will only grow under a Trump administration once Americans see just how bad they are going to be for them!

[Nay]

7. OH. MY. GOD. An actual dem candidate and long-time dem says

what I've been saying here for years about how the dem challengers to Brat here in VA were treated. I've been vindicated.

[coco22]

8. I wrote them also ..

no response they show up with same old stale talking point won't listen when we try to tell them how the public see it on different issues. The gang will be finding out very soon that they don't have a mandate and the loudest voices will be those who voted for him. Many will be crying out when they realize his and Paul Ryans' policies will hit them and not in a good way.

This white man vote is garbage,wake up white man and join the club of the Black man and woman who are catching hell and have been for decades,but for some it didn't and doesn't matter because they think black people aren't human. You better wake up and realize we are in this together what affects one affects all..

[MFM008]

9. DID the Democrats lose the way???

Or were we hacked to death.
Dealt with vote suppression.
Got cross-checked.
KGB'd
Emailed and FBI'd????

[truebluegreen]

22. That question is only debatable within your narrow framing.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/democrats-release-autopsy-report-after-2014-election-failures

As has been pointed out by others many times before, since Obama was first elected Democrats have lost
--900 state legislature seats
--13 Senate seats
--69 House seats
--12 governorships

That's as of 2014, and now the best, most experienced and most qualified candidate ever to run for President lost to a orange-colored fascist pig (yes, I know she won the popular vote by a mile, but you go into elections with the system you have, not the one you want).

Methinks the Democrats lost their way long ago.

[MFM008]

28. When did the Russians

Begin hacking American elections??
It could have been a 50 state strategy. ....
Glad someone had one.

[truebluegreen]

31. I agree--someone needs to have a plan

and clearly the Democrats didn't and don't. Russian interference aside, why have they stood around and watched the slow-motion coup of voter ID, voter suppression, CrossCheck etc etc etc?

[ismnotwasm]

30. So here's a sincere question

How much of that loss do you think is a racist backlash to the first AA president? I don't know that the Dems "lost their way" as much as the Repugs tapped into a very angry part of the electorate. Clearly the Democratic Party needs to do some I don't know, call it tuning up, call it tightening the message, call it reaching out to the quasi-mystical "undecideds" whatever, but it the only viable party that encompasses both social justice and economic justice and environmental justice messages. Throwing out accuarate stats is useful, but behind everyone of those losses is a personal and public story.

I would start there. Dems need to examine each and every loss and dissect it--as they actually do, on a local level.

I'm am fortunate enough to live in Washington state, but even here, we have areas that are never going to vote for Dems, so we have a Republican senate. You wanna know what they are saying the break down for Dem loss is? Climate change. That's right--our lovely Rebublican Senate dislikes the regulations that come with climate change, and are unwilling to wait for the Jobs coming with a new green industry. How do Dems "lose their way" on that particular issue?

[truebluegreen]

32. Certainly the Democratic party is the only viable party

that encompasses social justice and economic justice and environmental justice messages. Their follow-through is less impressive. They need to grow a spine and "welcome the hatred" and give their constituents something to be excited about. I don't think there can be any argument that "Better than Donald Trump" was not that message.

[ismnotwasm]

34. See this is my point

On the Olympic Pennensula--Trump voter are still pissed over the Spotted Owl ruling--I kid you not, they believe it ruined the logging industry. While analysis shows this is not true, they are teaching their kids this.

So while in essence I agree with you, there are some battles the Dems aren't going to win--so they spend less resources in those places. The trick is to find where the receptive people are. People tend to not want details-they want simple promises. Trae Chowder--the comedian (liberal redneck) says the way to reach his people "is to lie". And he actually has a point "Trump lied to them and it worked"

How to reconcile that level of cynicism with ones person integrity I don't know.

[truebluegreen]

36. We won't win any arguments if we don't stand up and make them.

We aren't going to win over everybody, but we can do better than touting the stock index when the majority aren't even vested in that, or talking about how much worse things could be, or how the best we can hope for is incremental change, or a 2% course correction to the ship of state when many, many people are hurting economically and have been for years if not decades, and being ignored.

The US has been an oligarchy for decades, the Republicans are fine with that--it is their preferred condition--and the Democratic Party has been looking the other way. We didn't "lose our way" in 2016, or 2008, or 2000, or even 1992. We lost it when we walked away from the working class and starting running scared from our principles--I'd put it around 1972. I'd call everything that has happened since then a slow-moving disaster.

We had a chance to make a major course correction in 2008, but our candidate turned out to be a brave defender of the status quo. He is personally likable, gracious, thoughtful and intelligent, but his policies were not what we needed (standing between the bankers and the pitchforks? Seriously?). And here we are.

[ismnotwasm]

11. This is a hit piece

With very little substance and doesn't answer the question of the title of the OP While it's clear we need to do more, an article with specifics written by someone who doesn't seem so...bitter would be more helpful

I lost my race, and nothing the DCCC could have done would have changed that in a year like this. Still, the organization charged with getting Democrats back in the majority should do much better. Now, more than any time in my lifetime, our country needs a better class of politicians and better qualified operatives. It’s the DCCC’s responsibility to find them and train them.

[uponit7771]

12. THIS ELECTION WAS STOLEN !!!

[truebluegreen]

24. And who the hell didn't see that coming,

between CrossCheck and voter ID and other voter suppression tactics, and yet stood around with their thumbs up their butts because they didn't want to question the integrity of the process? Or something: I can't think of a good explanation.

[putitinD]

33. the Demorats didn't lose their way unless you mean not being as big of an asshole

as the other side. Maybe just maybe, the other side are just assholes.

[TXCritter]

37. That's what our campaign experienced

No help from the party at state or federal level. All we had from them was word "Democrat."