General Discussion

not so good at stating what they are for.

An analyst argued recently that the Dems are fundamentally "an opposition party" and I mostly disagree but it got me thinking about how often and how naturally we function that way. 'Opposed to Trump' has been the biggest message of the last 9 years but it will not be the message of 2028.

HRC was at her best when under attack and counter punching. KH does best when attacking but do we have candidates who are at their best when presenting positive visions for the future? and who can get people excited about policies rather than interpersonal battles?

Message Machine

MSNBC, The View, ABC and CNN are often cited as the message machine of the DNC / Dem beltway. They have a much bigger audience and presence than the Hoover Institute but in the aggregate they are a herd of cats.

I think the Dem party is can be seen as 3 or 4 distinct groups / levels.
1 - Casual voters who turn out every 2 or 4 years
2 - Hyperpartisans who are "news junkies" and engage with every issue, donate, volunteer and organize (sound familiar?), and
3 - Beltway DNC leadership

What could be improved is messaging between groups 1 and 3. The Dem party would do well to foster a new generation of surrogates since exit polling shows us losing support among younger people. TV no longer has the reach and influence it used to have so it is time to master the dynamics of social media. That will require a different style of engagement and thus a different set of surrogates such as people who came of age as influencers, podcasters and debaters.