Democrats: Don’t blow up party to save it

CEDAR RAPIDS - Iowa Democrats don't need to tear down their party and start over from scratch after a series of disastrous elections culminating in this fall's failure to pick up congressional seats and the loss of their Senate majority.

'You can't blow everything up,” political strategist Jessica Vanden Berg said. 'People have been doing this for a really long time. But I think people have to really become smarter and understand that there's new and inventive ways to do it. We have to do it as well or better as the Republicans are doing it.”

As bad as the election was for their party - from the presidential race down to the Iowa legislative contests, Democrats shouldn't panic, Democratic pollster and researcher Brad Anderson added. In fact, the director of President Barack Obama's 2012 Iowa campaign said there is reason for optimism as Democrats look ahead to the next election cycle.

'I know it feels really bad right now to be a Democrat in a lot of ways,” he said during taping of Iowa Public Television's Iowa Press Friday afternoon. 'But at the end of the day, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.5 million votes. Eighty thousand votes in a handful of battleground states and she'd be president.”

Less than 10 years ago, Iowa Democrats controlled both chambers of the Iowa Legislature and the Governor's Office, 'so I think I am incredibly optimistic about going into this midterm just if history is any guide.”

In the meantime, new Senate Minority Leader Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, said legislative Democrats will have to play defense while at the same time choosing issues on which to distinguish themselves.

He doesn't think that is going to be hard because as much as he hopes the GOP majority governs wisely, Hogg suspects they are going to pursue a 'right wing ideological experimentation” that makes Iowa the next Kansas, where tax reform has created budget problems, including underfunding schools.

'If they govern wisely it makes it harder for us to get back to the majority, but it's a lot better for the state,” he said. 'So I'm hoping that's the decision they make and we'll see what happens.”

Vanden Berg and Anderson said a key to Democrats finding their way back to the majority is the selection of a new Iowa Democratic Party leader next month. Seven people are seeking the post.

Having a leader who raises money, helps win elections and rebuilds the party is important, Hogg said. It's also important that Democrats 'step up and help take ownership right now and do it in a way that is smart and helps us win elections.”

'We've got great Democrats across the state,” he said, 'and we need to keep people engaged, keep them involved and build that community of people who really get after it right.”

Iowa Press can be seen at 7:30 p.m. tonight and at noon Sunday on IPTV, at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on IPTV World and online at www.IPTV.org.

l Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com