Kraushaar: Democrats Lack Talent

Writing for National Journal, Josh Kraushaar discovers the Democrats have an almost empty bench, to use baseball parlance. In essence, he is fleshing out the Trende and Byler analytic insight we reported on Tuesday. Some key Kraushaar thoughts:

Democrats are in their worst position since 1928. That dynamic has manifested itself in the Democratic presidential contest, where the bench is so barren that a flawed Hillary Clinton is barreling to an uncontested nomination.

It's awfully unusual to see how dependent Democrats are in relying on former losing candidates as their standard-bearers in 2016. (snip) All told, more than half of the Democrats' Senate challengers in 2016 are comeback candidates.

On one hand, most of these candidates are the best choices Democrats have. (snip) But look more closely, and the reliance on former failures is a direct result of the party having no one else to turn to.

If Clinton can't extend the Democrats' presidential winning streak—a fundamental challenge, regardless of the political environment—the party's barren bench will cause even more alarm for the next presidential campaign. And if the Democrats' core constituencies don't show up for midterm elections—an outlook that's rapidly becoming conventional wisdom—Democrats have serious challenges in 2018 as well.

It's almost enough to make a conservative happy, at least temporarily.