Anchors

Katrina vanden Heuvel writes a piece about how the Democrats are starting to coalesce around an agenda - the Better Deal - which melds together some of the various movements on the Left.  She makes the point that Democrats have been crushed since 2010 across state and congressional races.

There's a problem with that, that I don't think gets addressed enough.  Most elections are referenda on the White House, 2010 certainly was.  After 2010, there was substantial gerrymandering, but even then, Republicans were freed from having to actually DO anything, because most Americans think the President is an Emperor and can do anything he wants.  Therefore, everything was Obama's fault.

There are still structural advantages that Democrats hold in the presidential race.  Trump drew two inside straights, but that is VERY unlikely to happen again.  He's polling terribly, he's incapable of learning anything new and he's likely going to give up even trying if he hasn't already.

Evidence of this can be found in polls like this one that show Mitch McConnell getting crushed. McConnell, as we know, has the charisma of bathroom mold, but he has won because Kentucky and because he's a power player in DC.  But Kynect (Obamacare in Kentucky) is popular and McConnell can't get shit done.

Democrats should absolutely create a platform of diverse ideas, because our ideas are better.

In the end, however, it will be the fact that the GOP is drowning and Trump is an anchor around their necks.