“I thought it was important to say to my friends and clients and other people, let’s just take a step back and try to be really number-specific and really sort of who has what cards in their poker hand,” Messina told Playbook. “And you would just rather be Joe Biden than Donald Trump.”

“Historically, we’re fucking bedwetters,” he added. “We grew up in the ’80s and ’90s when Republicans won elections all the time. Democrats had their hearts deeply broken when HILLARY [CLINTON] lost and people didn’t see that coming. And so, you know, we continually believe every bad thing people say.”

[Messina wants to put the kibosh on efforts to find and especially fund a No Labels candidate or some other third-party campaign. Read on for his thoughts on the impact of such a candidacy, which No Labels activists claim they will launch specifically if Trump wins the GOP nomination. I tend to think it will split some GOP votes from Trump, but Messina’s correct that it will hit Biden much harder, mainly because it’s getting clearer every day that Biden belongs in a home, not the White House. — Ed]