“Just three years ago, as they vied to lead the country, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidates competed to produce novel and dramatic policy proposals aimed at America’s most serious problems,” the Washington Post reports.

“The party’s insurgent liberals, who at times ran at the front of the pack, brought to the national stage dozens of new policy ideas on health care, housing, climate, education and more. The scale of their ambition startled Washington and captivated millions of voters. The establishment candidates were forced to move left in response, adapting to incorporate the new policy energy pouring out of the party’s base.”

“But with the 2022 midterms months away, the intellectual optimism and energy that defined the American left during that window has been markedly deflated.”

“Democrats whine too much… Just quit being a whiny party and get out there and fight and tell people what you did, and tell people the exact truth.”

— James Carville, on Meet the Press.

Peggy Noonan: “When national Democrats talk to the country they always seem to be talking to themselves. They are of the left, as is their constituency, which wins the popular vote in presidential elections; the mainstream media through which they send their messages is of the left; the academics, historians and professionals they consult are of the left. They get in the habit of talking to themselves, in their language, in a single, looped conversation. They have no idea how they sound to the non-left, so they have no idea when they are damaging themselves.”

“But this week in Georgia Mr. Biden damaged himself. And strengthened, and may even have taken a step in unifying, the non-Democrats who are among their countrymen, and who are in fact the majority of them.”

New York Times: “There are those who say Democrats need to do more to appeal to white suburbanites, and those who think it’s more important to focus on growing core constituencies, like African Americans, Hispanics, and younger voters. And there are those, notably the influential data analyst David Shor, who say the party has drifted too far away from the interests of working-class voters of all backgrounds.”

“It’s a discussion that touches on everything from the policies that Democrats develop — Green New Deal or middle-class tax cuts? — to the messages they deliver to voters: Abolish ICE or secure the border first?”

“But where the debate gets especially concrete is over voter registration, a subject with a rich tradition closely identified with the civil rights movement of the 1960s.”

“It is no great secret that the Republican party is winning more and more support from working people. It’s not because the Republican party has anything to say to them. It’s because in too many ways the Democratic party has turned its back on the working class.”

— Sen. Bernie Sanders, in an interview with The Guardian.

The staff of the Democratic National Committee voted to unionize on Tuesday.

James Carville to The Atlantic:

“First of all, 2021 is the greatest story never told. In terms of job creation, in terms of hourly employees having some power over their lives, it’s been a remarkable year. We haven’t told anybody. I would have ruthless, aggressive, and disciplined messaging. I would get out front of this crime thing pronto, like now. Why is there not an FBI strike force dispatched to California to deal with this smash-and-grab stuff?”

“The White House has got to put people out there, plant stories, do everything you can do, just have a really ruthless, disciplined message operation. The fact that people in this country believe that nothing is happening in Washington, that it’s hopelessly gridlocked—it’s just not true. I would heap a ton of blame on the press, but I gotta heap a ton of blame on the Democrats because we’re just not telling our story.”

Dan Pfeiffer: “The most important thing Democrats must recognize is that America is a center-left country with a center-right political system. Joe Biden won the popular vote by more than seven million votes, but almost lost because the Electoral College structurally favors Republicans. In order to win the presidency, a Democrat must win over voters more conservative than the median American. Turning out our base is necessary, but not sufficient to capture the White House.”

“Biden’s agenda is broadly popular according to every poll but goes nowhere because the Senate gives disproportionate power to sparsely populated, very Republican, rural states. According to calculations by Daily Kos, even though the Senate is tied, the 50 Democratic senators represent 56.5% of the U.S. population while the 50 GOPers only represent 43.5%.”

“The problem for Biden and the Democrats is structural, not strategic. There is no message, slogan, or speech to solve the problem because the system is set up to dilute the power of the majority.”

“I would like to hope there are still Democrats who think like I do. I’m fiscally responsible and socially compassionate. Now, if there are no Democrats like that, then they’ll have to push me where they want me.”

— Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), when asked on a West Virginia radio show whether there’s a place for him in the Democratic party.

Playbook: “Democrats over-promised — and they could pay politically. As our colleagues Marianne LeVine and Burgess Everett noted Sunday night, this year would seem like an extraordinary success in an alternative universe: Democrats passed a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill as well as a nearly $2 trillion pandemic relief package.”

“But Democrats oversold their ability to deliver on just about everything else. And now they’ve got to explain to voters why they failed to uphold major campaign promises.”

“This has the potential to depress Democratic voter turnout ahead of an election year that many predict will cost the party its majorities in the House and Senate. It also comes as Biden’s poll numbers are sagging, inflation is soaring and the pandemic is worsening with Omicron.”

Nevada Independent: “More than two and a half times as many Democrats have switched their voter registrations to Republicans as vice-versa during the last three months, a statistic with ominous portents for Democratic candidates.”

“The numbers since September also show that one and a half times as many Democrats switched to nonpartisan as did Republicans – numbers also reflected in how many major party voters would rather be members of ‘The Jedi Party’ or some other minor or essentially nonexistent party.”

Jon Ralston: “Yes, it’s early and only three months of data. But if this pattern continues well into 2022, it could presage a red wave here.“

Data for Progress: “Progressives often argue Democratic insiders are too moderate or conservative, and that the personal political preferences of these elite actors prevents the party from embracing a transformative progressive change.”

“However, our new analysis suggests that political elites are more supportive of a wide array of progressive policies than the average likely voter.”

Ron Brownstein: “For years, Democrats have rarely cited Clinton and the centrist New Democrat movement he led through the ’90s except to renounce his “third way” approach to welfare, crime, and other issues as a violation of the party’s principles. Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and even Bill Clinton himself have distanced themselves from key components of his record as president.”

“But now a loose constellation of internal party critics is reprising the Clintonites’ core arguments to make the case that progressives are steering Democrats toward unsustainable and unelectable positions, particularly on cultural and social questions.”

“Just like the centrists who clustered around Bill Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council that he led decades ago, today’s dissenters argue that Democrats risk a sustained exodus from power unless they can recapture more of the culturally conservative voters without a college education who are drifting away from the party.”