The DNC “is entering this campaign season with millions of dollars in debt, gambling that money spent now on technology and organizing efforts will outweigh the burdens of red ink,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The DNC had more than $15 million in debt and less than $7 million in cash as of the end of February. While both parties have racked up debts, especially just before an election, experts say it is unusual for the party that holds the White House to carry debt so long into the next election cycle.”

Gallup: “Young adults — those between the ages of 18 and 29 — have typically aligned themselves with the Democratic Party, but they have become substantially more likely to do so since 2006.”

“From 1993 to 2003, 47% of 18- to 29-year-olds, on average, identified as Democrats or said they were independents but leaned to the Democratic Party, while 42% were Republicans or Republican leaners. That time span included two years in which young adults tilted Republican, 1994 and 1995, when Republicans won control of Congress. Since 2006, the average gap in favor of the Democratic Party among young adults has been 18 percentage points, 54% to 36%.”

Yahoo News goes inside the Democratic war room as they keep tabs on happenings at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

“The room is filled with rows of desks equipped with double-monitor computer screens, which a group of about 40 Democratic operatives are using to monitor and fact-check speeches at CPAC as they happen, issue rapid responses, and monitor the media and social networking sites… American Bridge also has ‘trackers,’ who are essentially Democratic spies on the ground at CPAC, recording events and monitoring the events both on and off the official stage of the conference.”

“So the Left is making a big mistake here. What they’re offering people is a full stomach–and an empty soul. The American people want more than that.”

— Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), quoted by the Washington Post.

The New York Times looks at how the Democratic party is working to “win over white men, especially working-class men without college degrees, at a time when Democrats are gaining support from growing numbers of female and minority voters.”

“It is a challenge that runs throughout the nation’s industrial heartland, in farm states and across the South, after a half-century of economic, demographic and cultural shifts that have reshaped the electorate. Even in places like Michigan, where it has been decades since union membership lists readily predicted Democratic votes, many in the party pay so little attention to white working-class men that it suggests they have effectively given up on converting them.”

Wall Street Journal: “The centerpiece of the evolution in vote-targeting is a continuing effort to update the party’s vast database of how Americans vote and what issues and messages are most likely to move them. The voter file, arguably the committee’s most powerful asset, requires constant refreshing to help the party and its candidates find potential supporters.”

“The DNC is also looking to improve on some of the biggest innovations of 2012 by engineering new ways to sort that data, model expected outcomes and test the best methods and messages for persuading sympathetic voters. This can be as mundane as figuring out which font color prompts e-mail recipients to click on a link to more sophisticated modeling to predict election results.”

Washington Post: “Though more united than Republicans, Democrats nevertheless face simmering tensions between the establishment and a newly energized populist wing, led by the unabashed liberalism of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the fiery rhetoric of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.”

“The schisms are as much stylistic as substantive. But however defined, they offer a challenge to the party’s next leader… The Democratic Party, by various measures of public opinion, has moved to the left in the past decade. But that does not necessarily mean that progressives have become the party’s dominant force or that the policies and messages they advocate can carry the day in a national election.”

National Journal: “House Democrats delivered another huge online fundraising haul in 2013, underscoring the gap between Democratic and Republican digital efforts as the GOP tries to make up ground in the technology of politics.”

Reuters: “According to interviews with a dozen strategists
from both parties, Democrats appear set to maintain their technological
edge, potentially boosting their prospects in the 2014 midterm elections
just as other factors – such as President Obama’s sliding popularity –
are likely to favor Republicans.”

For more on this, see our conversation with Obama digital strategist Teddy Goff.

“Democrats in Congress are parting ways with President Obama on issues including trade, energy and health care as the gap widens between the political demands of keeping control of the Senate and advancing parts of the White House agenda,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“A phalanx of Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, have announced opposition to the president’s top trade initiative. Many Democrats are clamoring for Mr. Obama to act soon to allow construction of the Keystone XL pipeline–a decision the White House is expected to make before midterm elections. Vulnerable Democrats are bluntly criticizing the rollout of the 2010 health-care law. Even an under-the-radar issue such as a flood-insurance bill has been a point of tension.”

The Hill: “A mood of anxiety hangs over President Obama and congressional Democrats as they conduct a series of meetings this week to coordinate their 2014 political and legislative agendas.”

With many top House Democrats choosing not to run for re-election this year, David Hawkings looks at the next tier of party leaders.

“The internal dynamics are fluid enough that few clear answers are apparent, and the most adept and ambitious House Democrats are savvy enough to know it’s too early for open boasting about why they should move up the depth chart. But their legislative top tier is undeniably on the backside of a generational changeover.”

A new Pew Research poll shows Americans perceive Democrats as more willing to work with the other party than Republicans, by a margin of 52% to 27%.

“Democrats also hold a 20-point advantage when it comes to which party ‘is more concerned with the needs of people like me’ and a 10-point edge when it comes to governing in a more ethical and honest way. The GOP, meanwhile, is viewed as much more ‘extreme’ in its issue positions (54% to 35%) and more influenced by lobbyists (47% to 30%).”

“For years, liberals have fretted about the power of ultrawealthy people determined to use their billions to advance their political views. Charles and David Koch, in particular, have ranked high in the demonology of the American left,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

But in Tom Steyer, “liberals have a billionaire on their side. Like the Kochs, he is building a vast political network and seizing opportunities provided by loose campaign finance rules to insert himself into elections nationwide. In direct contrast to them, he has made opposition to fossil fuels and the campaign against global warming the center of his activism.”

Rep. Jim Matheson’s (D-UT) retirement “continues the decline of two overlapping Democratic groups: Blue Dogs and Democrats who opposed Nancy Pelosi’s bid to continue leading their caucus after the electoral shellacking of 2010,” National Journal reports.

“There are just 15 Blue Dog Democrats in the House now, down from 26 in the previous Congress and 54 in the Congress before that. Meanwhile, 19 Democrats publicly opposed Pelosi for speaker on the House floor in January 2011, and Matheson will become the 11th to leave the House at the end of his term.”

“Several House Democrats are feeling heat for their connections to a centrist think tank that has called for cuts to federal entitlements, highlighting fissures within the Democratic Party over the direction of economic policy,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The lawmakers are being criticized by progressive groups due to their association with Third Way, a centrist think tank whose positions on issues are more conservative than those in the Democratic base. For instance, Third Way advocates some cuts to entitlement programs to help shrink the federal deficit.”

Washington Post: “As Obama struggles to achieve his second-term domestic agenda, a more liberal and populist voice is emerging within a Democratic Party already looking ahead to the next presidential election. The push from the left represents both a critique of Obama’s tenure and a clear challenge to Hillary Rodham Clinton, the party’s presumptive presidential front-runner, who carries a more centrist banner.”

“The left’s influence will be on display in coming weeks when a high-profile congressional committee formed after the government shutdown faces a deadline to forge a budget agreement. Under strong pressure from liberals, the panel has effectively abandoned discussion of a ‘grand bargain’ agreement partly because it probably would involve cuts to Social Security.”

Out next month: The New Democrats and the Return to Power by Al From with a forward written by Bill Clinton.

Very interesting.

“After nearly a year of discussion over the fate of reams of Obama campaign data, officials have decided to transfer some voter information to the Democratic National Committee, but to retain its email list and rent it out to Organizing for Action, party committees and other groups,” Politico reports.

New York Times: “For Democrats across the country, the reversal of political fortunes over the past month has been head-spinning. In mid-October, as Republicans were contending with voter fury over a 16-day government shutdown, Democrats had the momentum. In polls, a growing number of voters said they wanted the party to control Congress after next year’s election. Emboldened, a wave of strong recruits entered House contests. Democrats’ control of the Senate seemed secure. Money was flowing.”

“Then the problems with the Internet-based health exchanges came into focus, followed by millions of letters from insurance companies canceling individual policies that did not meet the health law’s minimum coverage requirements. Republicans found their voice. Democrats lost theirs. The polling gap closed, and Republican wallets opened. The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised $3.8 million in October, its best monthly showing of the year.”

Washington Post: “In some minds, the health-care law’s flubs have merged with the
government shutdown to render an unfavorable verdict on all of
Washington.”