Dem
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GOP
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After a disastrous election in 2024, where Democrats lost all the swing states, the White House, the Senate, and a number of other races, the DNC commissioned an autopsy to see why the patient died. Newly minted DNC Chair Ken Martin promised, back then, to release the document. But now the report is ready and Martin wants to bury it. Why hear bad news when we won the governorship of two blue states (New Jersey and Virginia)? All is well now in Democratland.
A number of Democrats and Democratic strategists want to see the report. They think that winning a couple of easy governor's races doesn't address issues like why Latino, Black, and young voters moved sharply to the right in 2024. They want to know what needs to be done to win these folks back, and they don't think that bashing Donald Trump is the key to the midterms or beyond. Hillary Clinton tried that in 2016 and it didn't work. They want to see what's in the report.
Some Democratic strategists, like Jamal Simmons, say that the Democrats need to explain to people what they stand for and why people should put them in charge. Even Kamala Harris is down on the Party, saying the Democrats are "very much stuck in the past." She doesn't mention the fact that part of this is that candidates who lost big time think they are entitled to another whack at the piñata rather than letting someone younger get to try.
All of this said, it is possible for the DNC to pass some important lessons along without posting the PDF to their website with a big, bold link. And although we obviously have not read the report, we think it would be borderline political malpractice to release it, for two reasons. First, as the old saying goes, "When your opponent is shooting themselves in the foot, let them." At the moment, there is much focus on cracks within the GOP. So much so, we'll have a series of items on that subject when we get back from our break. It would be foolish for the Democrats to do something that might change the narrative, especially given how easily people fall into "The Democrats are SO disorganized" thinking (see below for more).
Second, Martin hasn't actually explained why he is burying the report or what is in it. But it is possible that it says: (1) crazy people on the left, like Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) are ruining the Democrats' brand and need to be silenced, or (2) tepid moderates who are well beyond their best-by date and who are afraid of their own shadows are blocking all forms of change the voters are desperate for. If the report supports one of these positions, it will restart the Bernie vs. Hillary wars, Part 914, and could tear the Party apart. Not a desirable outcome heading into a midterm election.
The real mistake here was loudly announcing the autopsy in the first place, and then loudly promising to release it. That was a rookie mistake, not worthy of someone chosen to lead one of the two major political parties. What Martin and the DNC should have done is collect information, compile it, and THEN made a decision about what to do. Many voters don't trust the Democrats, and burying the report is just going to make people think: What are they hiding? And then, in the end, it may leak out anyway and then Martin has the worst of all possible worlds. He looks like a coward and the fight happens anyway. (V & Z)