For the next midterms, these lessons must be learned...

[Ken Burch]

...because everything that went wrong in 1994, 2010 and 2014 was caused by the party doing the opposite of these things:

1)Nationalize the election The other party always does that, and it always works for them. Get the current and previous out there on the stump every weekend...get Bernie and Warren and the other heavyweights out there too...have them campaign hard on out achievements and the other party's dirty deeds. That's the only way to inspire high voter turnout.

2)Fire Up The Base We win when the base is inspired to vote. We can't ever win by distancing the party from them. Make every add in the midterms a passionate invocation of what we stand for and a vivid reminder of what's at stake.

3)Emphasize GOTV, Registration and Re-Registration For Those purged by "Voter ID" laws

4)Rapid Response To Attack Ads The best thing Bill Clinton brought to presidential politics was his "Rapid Response Team".
We need that for congressional and senatorial campaigns...and also for state legislative campaigns.

5)Never Pre-Emptively Concede Defeat The party basically did that in 1994, 2010, AND 2014. This one is not rocket surgery, folks: If the party sends out the message, explicitly or implicitly, that the midterms are already lost before anyone even votes, OF COURSE DEMOCRATS WON'T SHOW UP AT THE POLLS. What else would anyone expect?

[herding cats]

1. I agree 100%!

Which is very rare for me to do.

We need to become extremely serious about our midterm elections. It's our most glaring Achilles heel in the party.

[1StrongBlackMan]

2. The Democratic base IS fired up ...

Bernie's not being out there is HIS choice.

I agree with the rest.

[Ken Burch]

3. And there is nothing I said there that justifies more snark aimed at Bernie.

I'm talking about the midterms in '18.

Do you disagree with anything I wrote in THAT context?

[1StrongBlackMan]

4. That wasn't snark.

[Ken Burch]

5. Bernie isn't even what this OP is about.

We're done with the primaries and Bernie will back HRC in the fall(it doesn't make any difference whether he suspends now or at the convention, he's already effectively on side).

Do you agree with what I said in the OP in the context of the next midterms?

[uponit7771]

6. "1. Fire Up The Base", ... but first recognize who the dem base is now

[Ken Burch]

7. It's women, POC, LGBTQ people and workers and the jobless of ALL races, activists and the young.

You and I aren't in disagreement on who the base is.

Nor do you have any reason to think I'd call for anything that would slight any part of that base.

[runaway hero]

8. How about the youth go out and vote.

For once. Trump is only in because old people vote and young people don't in primaries.

If Hillary is to win, the you go and vote.

[Ken Burch]

9. Yes, but I'm talking about the midterms, not this fall. n/t.