White House, US House, US Senate, vast majority of governorships and state legislatures.

[Garrett78]

Voter suppression and gerrymandering (two things Democrats don't raise enough hell about) alone don't explain why the Republican Party has so much power.

Is it possible the Democratic Party, as a whole, needs to alter its strategic approach? Is simply asking that question going to get me banned, or is it perfectly reasonable to engage in critical analysis in order to make strides as a party just as it's important for an individual to do so?

[MFM008]

1. How about

Outright stealing the vote?

[Eyeball_Kid]

2. Listening to the common voter and responding should become more a practice...

than a branding.

I'm trying to be succinct. But that's the bottom line. In general, voters are disgusted that political parties respond more to the donor class than the working class. Trumpy's cult of personality became a twisted way that the common voter expresses his or her "anomie".

[NBachers]

3. Sending mealymouthed equivocators out to cringe in the media certainly doesn't help, does it?

[Ken Burch]

4. We need to accept that it's pointless to focus on "the center"

There is no actual "center" in American politics anymore, and there likely never will be again.

There are the few who are privileged by race, by class, by gender, by fact of self and fact of heart,

There are the many who are not.

Victory will go to those who unite the many who are not privileged in a common project to create a future in which there is justice, freedom and dignity for the many and privilege for none.

[Angry Dragon]

5. +50000

[PdxSean]

7. I no longer distinguish Trumpettes from those in the center.

[PdxSean]

6. Its a tri-fecta.

Voter suppression and gerrymandering PLUS Russian/Republican collusion in hacking voting machines. Any strategy that fails to address those problems is an exercise in futility.

[global1]

8. And When The Dems Help To Take Out One Of Their Own....

like Franken - it doesn't help. It causes further demoralization as we watch Trump and the Repugs get away with just about anything they want. It causes Dems to be more and more demoralized on a daily basis to the point of giving up. Many will just say 'no matter what I do - my vote won't count.'. And they'll just sit the next election out. This is how Trump justifies his "winning and winning" and that you'll be so sick of winning you get accustommed to losing.

Sorry people - I woke up in a very cynical mood this morning

[genxlib]

9. Don't discount three other major factors that you did not mention

Money, Media and Religion

Money - A slow creeping became an avalanche after Citizens United. The entire system is so awash in money that it becomes nearly impossible to function as an honest democracy. On the GOP side, they have embraced it and it aligns with their ideology so it is self-reinforcing (help rich people so they help you). On the Democratic side, it is contrary to our politics so we are left trying to balance the need for funding with policy. The results are obvious but the answers are not. Please don't say "Bernie did it" because that isn't enough. While his success was an important example, the funding needed to compete goes beyond individual candidates. It is at every level from City, State and National. It is in think tanks. It is in lobbying. It is in astro-turfing. We are getting buried in the money game.

Media - FOX has had an enormous impact on politics that is well beyond its actual viewership. It functions as a flagship to legitimize a broad array of misinformation sources that is coming from all angles. Email, Facebook, radio, cable news, internet, has all been coordinated and weaponized to reinforce each other. Alone, any of them might be dismissed. But together, they give wobbly stools extra legs so the people believe that they "must be true"

Religion - When part of your base votes as if their after-life depends on it, then the loyalty and consistency of those voters is on a different plane. Somehow, the GOP have managed to connect these voters to specific policies without any concern for the morality of the party or candidates. In a nut shell, they simply don't care what else the party or candidate has done as long as they are anti-gay and anti-abortion. We have seen this with Moore and Trump. We keep expecting these voters to say "enough! I can't support that cretin" after every revelation. And yet, they vote for them any way. That level of built in rabid support is an incredible buffer for them. Especially because the Constitution divies up power in a way that supports small/rural over big/urban.

I agree that Democratic Party needs to be better. However, I am realistic to the challenges that they face. Like it or not, every single candidate needs money to be successful and they need the infrastructure that only money can buy. Like it or not, we live in a media environment where nuance is ignored and mistakes by Democrats are magnified. Like it or not, we are up against a cult-like horde that will resist us in mass.

This is the environment in which we compete. The rules do not favor us and that is not an accident. Every victory the GOP attains has paved the way for future victories by further changing the rules. For example, Bush tax cuts -> More money-> Citizens United-> State control-> Gerrymandering-> House Control -> Allegations and Investigations -> Trump -> more tax cuts etc.

It should also be noted that it is easier to play defense. Historically, the Party out of the presidency gains power. Clinton brought Gingrich and Bush, then Bush brought Obama and Democratic control of Congress. It is historically normal for 8 years of Democratic presidency to swing back to GOP control. Obviously, this time is worse than before. But we are on defense now so time will tell if we can overcome the institutional limitations that have been created to reassert control.

[L. Coyote]

10. Start with a false premise, then bash the Dems. This should get banned.

Voter suppression and gerrymandering alone DEFINITELY DO explain why the Republican Party has so much power.

[Hortensis]

11. OF COURSE their vicious corruption of democracy explains GOP wins.

We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both. ~ Justice Louis Brandeis

Most Americans don't want what is happening at all.

It's being driven by the new ultraconservative billionaire class wielding its enormous wealth as a weapon to destroy the principle of one man, one vote and all the systems we used our votes to create for us.

They started back in the 1970s and grew, along with their explosion of concentrated wealth, as a force. They built right-wing media and infiltrated what we call the MSM to corrupt and divide and demoralize the electorate. Their carefully crafted messages are echoed all over this forum every day.

The gerrymandering their illegal activities of 2010 set up was a devastating blow, as was Citizens United and the following breaches in our walls.

The electoral college of 2016 was packed with corrupted conservatives determined never to perform their duty, even when faced with a mentally disordered, morally and ethically depraved candidate who'd probably engaged in treason with Russia.

We should all tack "It's the money, stupid" on our walls. By the way, the current tax bill includes a section that would make their dark-money manipulations tax deductible.