Use The Whole Toolbox

Scott Lemieux highlights a Matthew Yglesias piece about Democrats worrying about whether highlighting Trump's foibles is the right strategy for 2018.  Critics point to the failure of Clinton to win using this strategy as evidence that Democrats need some comprehensive policy agenda, like the Contract On With America from 1994.  Both Yglesias and Lemieux feel this is misguided, and I would agree with them.

You use the whole toolbox.  Yes, you want candidates who can tailor a message to their home district.  You don't want to run an African American lesbian Socialist in rural Georgia, for instance, if you have a chance to flip it.  (If it's beyond reach...knock yourself out, Sister!)  But you should create a broad national theme, and that them should be holding the Trump Administration accountable.  Make the case - which is easy - that the Trump Administration is full of corrupt people and that Washington Republicans are enabling it.  Make the case that our government needs one branch to hold the other branch accountable.  Talk about oversight.

Then let the individual candidates tailor their specific message off that.

Meanwhile - and this is absolutely critical - don't make it "all about Trump."  It's not just Trump.  It's the current iteration of the Republican Party.  Don't let it become all about him, or you could miss the transformative effect of his presidency on political alliances.