The Democratic National Committee’s interim chairwoman, Donna Brazile, Tuesday announced that a “new advisory group” would be named to study the 2016 results. Liberal donors are convening to plot the course ahead at a retreat in Florida in January. Progressive activists are angling to seize control of the DNC chairmanship. Moderate Democrats are trying to stage a coup in House leadership. Others are looking farther into the future, to gird for the next round of congressional redistricting.
The various factions don’t even agree on how big a problem the party faces. While many are stunned by the 2016 results and see a fire raging, others are warning against overreacting. They note that Mrs. Clinton won the popular vote and that the Electoral College outcome was decided by a narrow margin in a handful of states; that camp views the problem as one of communication, not policy.
“Democrats do have to do some thinking about how do we make sure that the message we have is received effectively and results in winning elections,” Mr. Obama said at a recent press conference. “I don’t think that there has to be a complete overhaul here. I think that there does have to be better organization, a smarter message.”
Another venue for Democratic debate is being convened by Clinton ally David Brock, head of a network of liberal advocacy organizations, including the opposition research group American Bridge 21st Century and the press watchdog Media Matters for America. Mr. Brock has invited 400 liberal donors to a retreat in Palm Springs, Fla., in January, during inauguration weekend, to participate in an election postmortem and strategy session.
