Politico: “Quietly — and pointedly refusing to attach their names to the musings — they talk about starting to look past the all over-70-years-old leadership team of Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and Jim Clyburn in the House of Representatives. Some hope, wistfully, the three will step aside before the 2018 midterms to help send a message and generate new ideas. And as much as they like the idea of Chuck Schumer’s expanded Senate leadership team, they can’t help noticing how few of the body’s younger rising stars are included. They’re tired of Capitol Hill denizens staking their claim as the only leaders in the party, particularly as Trump’s political upheaval continues to echo throughout their ranks.”

“Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party!”

— President Donald Trump, on Twitter.

“Unable to get closure on the party’s stunning losses in November, nearly 20 Democratic interest groups, operatives, and state committees have commissioned their own private 2016 election autopsy reports,” Politico reports.

“The projects, which aim to diagnose the party’s ills and pave a path forward, are designed in part to fill the void left by Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which has yet to offer any formal explanation for its defeat. Instead, leaders of her campaign effort have let the candidate’s complaints to donors about Russia and FBI Director Jim Comey’s intervention stand alone, leaving a public silence about the details of her defeat that has spawned tangible frustration among party operatives.”

“They’re energized by the marches and excited about the crowds showing up at town halls held by Republican lawmakers. But not far below the surface, Democrats are just as anxious, depressed and strung out as they’ve been since the night Donald Trump won the presidential election,” Politico reports.

“Gathered here for the Democratic National Committee winter meeting at which they’ll elect a new chair and other officers on Saturday, state leaders and top operatives can’t go long in the hallways or at the hotel bar without sighing, grimacing, shaking their heads at how bad the situation still is.”

New York Times: “Immediately after the November election, Democrats were divided over how to handle Mr. Trump, with one camp favoring all-out confrontation and another backing a seemingly less risky approach of coaxing him to the center with offers of compromise.”

“Now, spurred by explosive protests and a torrent of angry phone calls and emails from constituents — and outraged themselves by Mr. Trump’s swift moves to enact a hard-line agenda — Democrats have all but cast aside any notion of conciliation with the White House. Instead, they are mimicking the Republican approach of the last eight years — the ‘party of no’ — and wagering that brash obstruction will pay similar dividends.”

For members: Democrats Can’t Just Make It About Trump

“The consensus among Democratic officials is that former Labor Secretary Tom Perez is the slight favorite to win election as the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee… But a Politico email survey of the 447 DNC voting members and follow-up interviews with close to a dozen national and state Democratic leaders finds a considerably closer race, with Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison holding a narrow advantage in a contest that seems likely to last through several rounds of balloting before determining a winner.”

Wall Street Journal: “In California, supporters of the 2016 presidential contender packed the obscure party meetings that chose delegates to the state Democratic convention, with Sanders backers grabbing more than half the slots available.”

“They swept to power in Washington state at the Democratic state central committee, ousting a party chairman and installing one of their own in his place. Sanders acolytes have seized control of state parties in Hawaii and Nebraska and won posts throughout the party structure from coast to coast.”

“Those gains come from an under-the-radar blitz in a debate over the future of the party following its bruising 2016 losses. While Democrats nationwide have put the focus on President Trump, the Sanders wing of the party has engaged in an intramural fight to remake the party in a more populist, liberal mold.”

NBC News: “The Democratic National Committee will pick a new chairman in Atlanta on Saturday — the last possible weekend allowed by the party’s charter, which states the election must be held ‘prior to March 1’ following an election. The timing was intended to give party members ample time to consider their future after an unexpected loss. But the length of the race has also allowed tensions to fester between the establishment and progressive wings. And it has hobbled the national party’s ability to both respond to Trump and capitalize on the unprecedented grassroots opposition to him. For Democrats on both sides of the chairmanship fight, the election cannot end soon enough.”

NBC News: “A largely unspoken truth about the race to be the Democratic National Committee’s next chairman is that the major candidates agree on almost all the issues -at least the ones relevant to the job they’re pursuing… They want to reinstate a 50-state strategy, focus more on organizing, establish greater transparency at the DNC and heal the wounds from the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries. Another truth: Many of the 447 DNC members who get to cast a vote for chairman later this month will be pleased if any of the frontrunners, especially Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) or former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, ends up winning.”

“Instead, most of the tension in the race is coming from Democrats and progressives outside the candidate field and DNC party membership, who view the contest as another proxy fight between Bernie Sanders and the so-called Democratic establishment, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.”