Democrats fault leaders for brushing off 2014 midterm losses

Dean said the only congressional leader who has acknowledged what he described as an utter communications failure is Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.), the House assistant Democratic leader. Clyburn has argued that Democrats should have emphasized President Obama’s accomplishments.

Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.), who served as DNC chairman from 2009 to 2011, said his party should have a serious discussion about why it got blown out.

“No, there’s not been enough. I’m less focused on the party than the Senate. We have to do some serious soul-searching to ask why so many of our colleagues lost races. They were not bad public servants. They weren’t bad candidates. We have to ask why they lost,” he said.

Kaine, who is up for reelection in 2018, said the other two-thirds of the necessary discussion is about what Democrats need to do to become more successful, not just in winning races but also racking up legislative accomplishments. 

“We haven’t had the discussion about what went wrong. We haven’t had the discussion about what we need to do going forward to be more successful in the mission we have, and now is the time to really begin the discussion,” he said.