Loebsack to lead Democratic post-mortem

DAVENPORT - U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack said Monday the Democrats' review of the 2016 election cycle will be a wide-ranging in-depth analysis that will seek to help reset the party for the future.

Loebsack, D-Iowa, who is arguably the leading Democrat in the state, announced the effort at a meeting of the Iowa Democratic Party's state central committee this weekend. The effort, to be done in conjunction with the state party, will feature a tour of the state to gain input.

The effort, to be done in conjunction with the state party, will feature a tour of the state to gain input, and a final report is expected in the spring.

The election last month was the latest in a string of victories for Iowa Republicans since 2010. Donald Trump won the state, and Republicans gained control of the Iowa Senate. And while President Barack Obama won Iowa in 2012, the GOP has wrested the governorship and both houses of the Legislature from the Democrats over the past six years and now hold three of the four U.S. House seats, along with both U.S. Senate seats.

Loebsack, who won a sixth term last month, has been taking on more of a public role as a party leader, and this is just the latest example. The Iowa City Democrat visibly helped state legislative candidates across the state this year.

He also now has close to $1 million in his campaign account after having to spend relatively little on his own race.

In an interview Monday after he spent time volunteering at the River Bend Foodbank in Davenport, Loebsack said some of those funds would provide seed money for the review, and professionals would be hired to help out.

'I want to make sure that we do this in an evidence-based sort of way - it's not just seat of the pants. It's not just sort of my hunch,” Loebsack said.

Previous post-election efforts have involved internal data analysis, but not like this, officials said.

Norm Sterzenbach, former executive director of the state Democratic Party said there had been interest in the past in doing something more in-depth, but cost was an obstacle. He estimated this effort could cost $75,000 to $100,000.

'We do not look introspectively enough,” he said. 'And it's critical moving forward.”

Even Loebsack conceded perhaps this should have happened earlier.

'There's no question that if we'd done something more systematic, something more in depth in the past, we may have been able to avoid some of the failures this time,” Loebsack said. 'I can't say that for sure.”

The party already is in the midst of deciding who will be the new state chair. There are several people competing for the job, and a decision is expected next month.