Some Democrats said that Sanders had erred by going after his colleague in his home state. Manchin has long said senators shouldn’t campaign against each other, and the op-ed from Sanders was “a mistake,” according to one Democratic senator, who requested anonymity to speak candidly: “It didn’t accomplish anything. We’re in a position to get this thing done. Everybody has to act like an adult.”…

In their minds, both men think they have already compromised on their visions for a large-scale party-line spending bill. Sanders wanted a $6 trillion topline spending number then came down to $3.5 trillion, while Manchin has suggested he didn’t want one at all, then came up to $1.5 trillion.

“They’re going to do battle in public. I don’t think that there’s any way around that,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Even so, Murphy warned that “every single day that we’re consumed by internal debates and internal arguments is a day that we’re not actively selling” the social spending proposal to the public.

Murphy, like most in the party, is willing to meet Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) at a lower spending number. But rank-and-file Democrats are still waiting for a breakthrough.