Mediaboss Marketing

Senator Eric Abetz: if a government loses a vote on the floor of the House because certain members deliberately vote with Labor and the Greens then that is an exceptionally grave matter. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Tasmanian Liberal Eric Abetz says the Turnbull government should pursue a postal plebiscite to resolve the way forward on marriage equality but he will not agree to be bound by the result, noting that plebiscites by their nature are non-binding.

Abetz also used a television interview on Tuesday evening to issue a public warning on behalf of restive conservatives to a group of Liberal MPs currently contemplating crossing the floor to bring on a parliamentary debate about marriage equality.

The Tasmanian said he did not want to speculate about whether Malcolm Turnbulls leadership would come under direct challenge in the event MPs crossed the floor but what I will say as a matter of objective analysis is that if a government loses a procedural vote on the floor of the House because certain members deliberately vote with Labor and the Greens then that is an exceptionally grave matter.

Apparently ignoring other times Coalition MPs had crossed the floor without significant consequences, Abetz declared support for a procedural motion to bring on debate would signal to the Australian people that the government has lost its authority, has lost control on the floor of the House.

I think that would be an exceptionally grave matter and that is why any of my colleagues who are contemplating such action should be thinking about this, not two or three times, but a dozen times, then come to the conclusion that losing government isnt worth it.

The public intervention by Abetz is indicative of deep unrest in government ranks about an internal debate that will be triggered when parliament resumes next week about whether the Liberal party should move now to a conscience vote position on same sex marriage.

With some MPs signalling this week they are prepared to cross the floor to either allow marriage equality to be debated, or support the change in the event a bill makes it to the floor of the House, Malcolm Turnbull has noted publicly this week that the Liberal party by tradition allows MPs to cross the floor in legislative debates.

Turnbulls comments about the long tradition of free votes triggered a round of anonymous backgrounding by conservatives, who told some news outlets that any change of policy could trigger a challenge to the prime minister.

Anonymous threats were also delivered about peoples preselections.

The idea of rebel Liberal MPs supporting a Labor procedural motion on an issue that divides the government is particularly incendiary in some quarters of the Coalition.

On Tuesday, the prime minister, travelling in Perth, reiterated that the government was committed to a plebiscite. Our governments policy position on this issue is very, very clear and it has not changed.

We went to the last election promising that the Australian people would have their direct say on this issue, Turnbull said.

Queensland MPs are pushing the government to adopt a postal plebiscite because the parliament has rejected the Coalitions original plebiscite proposal. LNP MPs have been ringing Liberal colleagues in other states to try and drum up internal support for the idea.

The prime minister ducked a question from a reporter in Perth about whether the government was contemplating a postal plebiscite, which has been supported publicly by the governments most senior conservative, Peter Dutton.

Abetz on Tuesday evening said given the Senate had rejected the original plebiscite, the government was now entitled to explore other options which would give expression to our policy, namely of engaging the Australian people and giving them a say in this fundamentally important issue.

I think it is appropriate for us to explore a postal ballot to ensure the Australian people have a say and we retain faith with the electorate, the Tasmanian said.

But asked a number of times whether he would vote in favour of marriage equality if that was the result the plebiscite delivered, Abetz suggested he would not feel bound to follow a yes vote.

Any plebiscite, by its nature, is non-binding, Abetz told Sky News.

I would trust that the public accepts ... that no matter which way the plebiscite goes, I doubt there will be a 100% vote in favour or against changing the definition.

And I think its appropriate that the minority view, whatever that may be, is still expressed within the parliament.

He said he had no doubt the vote of the Australian people would ultimately be reflected in the parliament.

Liberals who favour moving to a conscience vote argue it is time to make the change on two grounds.

They say Tony Abbott, when he was prime minister, said the last parliament was the final time government MPs would be bound on same sex marriage. Abbott has subsequently backtracked on that statement.

They also argue that some of the loudest voices in favour of a plebiscite in government ranks have given absolutely no guarantees that they would support the result of any public vote which undercuts the purpose of the exercise, which is public consultation.

See the original post here:
Eric Abetz warns Liberals: crossing floor on same-sex marriage 'a grave matter' - The Guardian

CNN commentator Van Jones is touring the country to get people to focus on our commonalities as opposed to our differences at a time when politics has fractured the country.

Jones We Rise tour, which kicked off Wednesday and continues until Aug. 19, is stopping at venues from Los Angeles to New York as he hosts conversations with local government and community leaders and artistsabout politics and activism. Wednesdays kickoffevent in Los Angelesfeatured a panel with hip-hop mogul and producer Russell Simmons and actor and rapper Nick Cannon, as well as performances that includedspoken word poetry.

In an interview with HuffPost before the tour launched, Jones said he wants to push people progressives in particular to think beyond partisan divides to work on social justice issues, such as mass incarceration and the drug epidemics.

Part of whats happened is everybody feels a sense of crisis economically, geopolitically but instead of turning to each other, were turning on each other, Jones said.

Since the election, Jones has drawn some criticism from the left for his push to bridge divides with folks on the right, particularly those who voted for Donald Trump. As a proud progressive who worked in the Obama administration and famously dubbed Trumps election a whitelash against changing demographics, Jonescaused some brows to furrowwhen his CNN show,The Messy Truth,which launched in December, had him visiting Trump supporters to listen to their struggles.

Many progressives and people of color in particular have taken issue with the panoply of peopleafter the election, including Jones, who have called for those on the left to have conversations with Trump voters rather than focus solely on supporting marginalized groups, many of which have seen their rights threatenedbythe Trump administration.

Jones maintains that he can do both: Im just as concerned about whats going on in Appalachia as in South-Central Los Angeles. Were concerned about people both parties have let down for decades.

Its a lot easier to say, Screw Trump and anyone who voted for him, he added. But the problem is it doesnt create a job or close a prison.

Jones We Rise tour wont mirror his Messy Truth show, he says, largely because he will be talking mostly with liberal panelists and audience members, since, as he put it, progressives and people of color will be the main people who show up.

Im going to be challenging those folks with stuff Ive seen, to try to get us to open our hearts, Jones said. Its a risk for me, because right now there is real risk as a progressive to raise criticism, because they dont want it to play into Trumps hand somehow.

Sales from the tours tickets ranging from a low of$17 in Las Vegasto a high of$216 in Miami will benefit Jones nonprofit,The Dream Corps.

HuffPost spoke to Jones about the tour and why he thinks people on the left should be joining with those on the right to advance social justice.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jerritt Clark via Getty Images for Roc Nation

Your We Rise tour wants people to focus on our commonalities as opposed to our differences.At a time ofdeep political division, why do you believe bipartisan efforts are the path forward?

Its about trying to get us back to a place where were talking about solutions and building bridges again.Its scary to me, because Im going out into what feels like a civil war and trying to point out opportunities for hope and progress without being Pollyanna about it.

Ive gotten a chance to go to so many different cities Ive been to West Virginia, to South-Central L.A. Everywhere I go its the same thing: addiction, poverty, a broken criminal justice system, high death rates. Im seeing common pain but no common purpose.

Theres stuff were not going to agree on health care, immigration and everyone knows where I stand on those issues. But there are issues we do agree on, and nobody is doing anything. No one thinks the criminal justice system is doing well, or addiction whether narcotics in black communities or opioids in white communities or that were preparing the next generation of workers.

Were all yelling at each other about whos a snowflake, but theres funeral after funeral of young Americans from overdoses, homicides and even sometimes police shootings.

Youve done some of this kind of bipartisan bridge-building work with your show,The Messy Truth,when you talked to Trump voters about their concerns. How do you respond to the criticism youve gotten over those efforts?

Look, I think Trump is worse than people fear and I think many of the Trump voters are better than people know. The truth is messy. Many of the Trump voters held their nose to vote for Trump, just as many of us held ours to vote for [Hillary] Clinton. My view is we should be tough on Trump and his policies and behaviors, but we should be very curious and open to understanding and finding common ground with Trumps voters.

Im not kumbaya but unless youre saying Screw Trump, youre accused of being kumbaya. Ive been in politics for 30 years. You have to look at reality, and to get things we want to get done, we have to de-inflame some of these tensions.

Jerritt Clark via Getty Images for Roc Nation

You mentioned there are issues people on the left and right tend to agree on. For instance,that mass incarceration is a problem. But even so, arent there still divides on how to solve it, or issues related to it, like police violence?

My organization [The Dream Corps] hasreal legislationmoving right now, theDignity for Incarcerated Women Act, where we think well pick up Republicans on not shackling women in federal prisons when giving birth.

We dont have to agree on everything to agree on some things. On criminal justice, there has been real bipartisan progress.

I think the problem is people are in their own bubbles of outrage, and were not trying to solve problems anymore. If you have a kid in prison or hooked on opioids or who doesnt have a job, a lot of this back and forth is not inspiring. Theres a bunch of people addicted to being righteous and saying Republicans suck. Thats not a hard case to make. The harder case is that there are things we could be doing as progressives to get better outcomes for our community.

You havent been the only one making calls to bridge divides since the election. Everyone from theWomens MarchtoHeinekenhas pushed people to have conversations with folks they disagree with. Butcriticsnote that promoting dialogue makes it seem like its individual opinions that need to change rather than systems or policies.

Thats a false choice. We get in these false binaries: either you work on dialogue and understanding or on systemic change. But you cant work on either unless youre working on both. Try to close a prison without talking to a Republican. You cant do it in any state. Its not dialogue for its own sake: You cant deliver on structural reforms without being in dialogue.

We have to get passed the hazing that youre an Uncle Tom appeaser just because youre trying to close prisons, and in order to do that you have to talk to Republicans. We have to keep our eyes on the prize: the people who are actually suffering.

I think the truth is messy: Im a progressive. Im proud of it. I think our ideas are better, butI dont think our ideas or party is perfect, and I benefit from back and forth with people who disagree with me.

Jerritt Clark via Getty Images for Roc Nation

How does your experience as a black man in America relate to your belief that people should come together despite these deep political divides?

I dont think I can be any more cynical or defeatist than people who were enslaved and lynched and had dogs sicked on them and somehow found a way to be optimistic. I think people have lost all perspective. Its become fashionable to be cynical. Im not going to let Trump change who I am. Im a hope-and-changer in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024, if God lets me stay here.

[Martin Luther King Jr.] was talking about hope and change. Before that you had Ida B. Wells, while people were being lynched, talking about hope and change. This is what we do. This country was a slave state on stolen land, and we had to fight a civil war only to get to apartheid. And Dr. King created a democracy out of apartheid. I stand in that tradition. People with less money and no phones turned an apartheid regime into a democracy against much greater odds than what we face, and they werent cynical.

Im literally bewildered by how fashionable its become to just shoot down any idea or any suggestion that we might be able to get kids out of jail or morgues as Pollyanna, kumbaya stuff. And I reject it.

Come out, sit in a room with me for an hour. If you think Im full of it, come out and tell me to my face. Lets have this conversation.

Jerritt Clark via Getty Images for Roc Nation

See the original post:
Van Jones Is Touring America To Have 'Messy' Conversations With Liberals - HuffPost

Poland is in an uproar. The decision of its ruling Law and Justice Party to bring the judiciary under political control has been partially blocked by President Andrezj Duda after large street demonstrations in most major cities.

But this is not a government that brooks denial. The Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, responding to a complaint against the bill filed by the European Union, said the government wouldnt succumb to blackmail, threats and intimidation. No threats will stand in our way. We wont let anyone from the outside treat us this way, he told reporters.

Outside in this instance is a Union whose democratic and civic norms Poland enthusiastically embraced when it joined the EU in 2004 with nine other states, eight of which were formerly Communist-ruled. Outside is a Union which, in 2015, pumped in 13.4 billion ($14.2 billion) to its economy, by some way the largest subsidy to any EU member.

Over the 13 years of its membership, Poland has received some 150 billion. What we are witnessing, writes the Polish-Nigerian commentator Remi Adekoya, is, without doubt, one of the largest wealth transfers between nations in modern history.

Outside is a Western world where the rule of laws must take precedence over the rule of leaders. Where the divisions of ethnicity must no longer be a matter of discrimination or prejudice.

Outside is also globalization, the complex networks of trade agreements, transnational corporate production and overarching financial, political and legal institutions. Andoutside has been suffused, since the collapse of Soviet communism in 1991, with a broadly liberal ideology which stresses openness, multiculturalism and constant willingness to change.

The current Polish government is against most of that. And why should it not be? So is the leader of the Western world.

President Donald Trump, in a speech in Warsaw early this month, forbore to mention the justice law, instead sharing distaste for the news media with President Duda and lamenting the decline of Europe, implicitly exempting Poland from that declines. Home again, Trump signalled that he remains a reactionary by banning transgender people from the military. He had already shown his belief that government was all about him by attacking Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from an investigation about alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 election as by law Sessions had to and in doing so, being unfair to the president.

A shift is taking place in politics and society worldwide, and no-one can know how far it will go. The release from communism in the early 1990s was expected by many - including me, then a correspondent in Eastern Europe - to result in a stable embrace of liberal democratic norms by the former communist countries, including Russia itself.

That was a liberal illusion. It is now being proven wrong, most starkly in Russia, but also in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and possibly - after the coming October election - in the Czech Republic. The opposite of communism, in these countries, is not now liberal democracy, but semi-authoritarian nationalism. That had been a discreet component of communism; it has flourished much more openly since communism collapsed. As the European Council president Donald Tusk (a former Prime Minister of Poland) put it - "Poland is moving us back, in time and space, to the East.

But it isnt just the East. Trump is a standing affront to the ideals and practices of democratic statehood, which have had the adherence, more or less, of liberals, conservatives and social democrats in the post-war West. Under his giant shadow, movements of both the far left and right have become less inhibited about their distaste for political establishments they see as moribund, even illegitimate.

The far left showed one version of this at the G-20 summit in Hamburg earlier this month. German Chancellor Angela Merkel chose Hamburg for its radical, open culture - only to have parts of the city trashed and burned by mainly young, often masked demonstrators. A Syrian bystander, who had arrived 18 months before as a refugee, told a reporter, I can't believe my eyes. They have such a beautiful country and they're destroying it.

The protesters destroyed more than Hamburgs shops (and put more than 200 of the 20,000 police deployed in hospital). As the veteran German journalist, Josef Joffe put it, the'anti-capitalist demonstrations are the postmodern version of Romes bread and circuses - almost no risk and lots of fun. And selfies.

On the right, ideologists like Trumps senior adviser Steve Bannon embrace the most lurid themes and practices of tabloid journalism, especially in representing immigrants as criminal and lazy, the state as oppressive and mainstream politicians as corrupt, in order to cement a bloc of the public behind a right-wing program. According to the journalist Ian Birell, Trump is now a role model for authoritarian leaders in Liberia, Rwanda and Cambodia. When Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was asked in an interview about nepotism, by employing her sons in her administration, she shot back: My sons? Ask Trump!

A large part of the Western public is indeed justified in disappointment with and fear of what they see as the effects of liberal globalization. Wages have stagnated, rapid change has favored the elites and the wealthy and skills which gave shape to lives, even communities, are now captured by increasingly intelligent machines. But, as both Americans and Poles are discovering, the cure from the far right is worse.

The extremes wish to make sure that the center will not hold. Theres a fight on between the nationalist and the globalist visions which, even after the defeat of the far right in France and the Netherlands, remains intense. Moderate liberalism, after years of easy assumption that its bases were secure, now must show itself capable of mind-to-mind combat.

John Lloyd co-founded the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, where he is senior research fellow.

Continued here:
It's time for liberals to fight back around the world - Japan Today

Liberals have learned that if they attack, attack and attack some more, they can pressure organizations into surrender. Just like France.

That was the case with the Boy Scouts, a group that has repeatedly caved to alt-left pressure. President Trump spoke to more than 40,000 Scouts, leaders and volunteers Tuesday at the National Scout Jamboree in West Virginia and the media and left went insane comparing the Scouts to the Hitler Youth. Anyone who cheers this president gets thrown under the Panzer by liberals.

On Thursday the Scout leadership bowed to the assault. "I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree," said Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh. "That was never our intent."

President Trumps speech caused a media firestorm because the president tying his shoes would cause a media firestorm. He was attacked by liberals, and both news and entertainment media.

The New York Times headlined that Late Show host Stephen Colbert Says Trump Attacked Boy Scouts Belief in Our Democracy. Colbert built his career on attacking conservatives and recently drew criticism for making an obscene reference to President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Compared to that, saying the Boy Scouts were like Hitler Youth was mild for the left. But liberals were angry that the Scouts cheered President Trump. So they compared them to Nazis. That sounds reasonable to no one except libs.

Liberals have been calling Trump a Nazi since 2015 when he first began his race. One of the most obvious examples of that stupidity was ABCs The View star Whoopi Goldberg. In response to Trumps opposition to bringing Syrian refugees to the U.S., she compared the two and said: Hitler was a Christian. She also made a similar comparison to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

That was amateur hour compared to this week. Liberals call Trump Hitler or say hes a Nazi at the drop of a hat. But liberals went from attacking Trump to attacking kids with the same ferocity.

Heres how Newsweek set the order of battle. As the scout law says, a scout is trustworthy, loyal, Trump said, before adding, We could use some more loyalty, I will tell you that. As he spoke, the crowd chanted U.S.A and applauded.

Oh geez, they chanted U.S.A and applauded. The social media battle began. Twitter hashtags filled the space that sanity sometimes occupies. Terms like #Hitler Youth #Hitler and #HitlersYouth were flooded with comments from humans and bots.

Far-left filmmaker Michael Moore cited a famous Nazi propaganda movie in his comparison: I'm an Eagle Scout. Trump using the 30,000 BoyScouts as his props tonight was a scene out of Triumph of the Will. Shocking abuse of children.

John Haltiwanger, senior politics writer for the obscure Elite Daily (The Voice Of Generation-Y) started making comparisons between President Trump and Hitler. Haltiwanger said both wanted loyalty and didnt like the press. But he didnt stop there: Trump is not Hitler. Would be irresponsible to say they're the same. But he did make the Boy Scouts feel a lot like the Hitler Youth today, he tweeted.

Soap opera star Nancy Lee Grahn joined in. Tragically, #boyscouts in 2017 applaud Trump just like the all blonde blue eyed youth did for Hitler in the 30's.

Medium ran a piece by S. Novi headlined: Deranged Trump Emulates Hitler Youth Speech to Boy Scouts.

Igor Volsky, a vice president at the George Soros-funded Center for America Progress, was slightly more subtle. Trump is trying to turn the Boy Scouts into Trump Youth, he wrote. There were so many Nazi references running around on the left, it looked like Joseph Goebbels was running their media machine.

Even the outlets commenting on the trend embraced their biases. Of all of the outrageous and reprehensible things Trump has said and done over the past six months of his presidency, this seems to have really struck a raw nerve with people for a number of reasons, wrote Uproxx. Buzzfeed focused on angry Scout leaders, who naturally made the Hitler Youth comparison.

CNN Editor-at-large Chris Cillizza listed the 29 most cringe-worthy lines from Donald Trump's hyper-political speech to the Boy Scouts. But remember, CNN only thinks conservative media have opinions.

The left has long hated the Boy Scouts, bullying the organization into accepting first gay scoutmasters and now pushing to let girls join the Boy Scouts. Because boys arent allowed to have any spaces where they can just be boys. And every organization must push a left-wing agenda, or be destroyed. Or surrender. And then be destroyed. The left is OK with either.

Dan Gainor is the Media Research Center's Vice President for Business and Culture. He writes frequently about media for Fox News Opinion. He can also be contacted on Facebook and Twitter as dangainor.

Go here to read the rest:
How a liberal blitzkrieg from Hollywood and the press got the Boy Scouts to surrender - Fox News

Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill will spend the next 15 months talking up the new Better Deal economic message they unveiled last week.

Whats not clear is if anyone else will follow.

Story Continued Below

The national party remains far from consensus on a unified message Democrats cant even agree on whether the party needs one.

Just as there isnt one kind of Democrat, there are not just one kind of message that works, said California Rep. Jim Costa, a Blue Dog Coalition co-chair. One size doesnt fit all. We have an economically diverse country.

When the party's congressional leaders gathered in suburban Virginia to roll out the new affirmative economic message they'd long been promising, it was designed to give Democrats a way to talk about what exactly they stand for other than simply standing as the party of opposition to the White House.

But not every incumbent wants to be associated with the partys message. And many of the partys influential constituent groups and moneyed organizations are busy pursuing their own messaging and branding initiatives, and remain in the early stages of their own investigations into what went wrong in November. Some including the Democratic National Committee and individual state party committees are busy preparing their own, independent lines of messaging.

There are some really useful and interesting big-picture thoughts in the plans released [last week]. But candidates have to make that their own in their state were telling them to tell their own story, Democratic Governors Association executive director Elisabeth Pearson said of her instructions to the partys gubernatorial candidates running in 2017 and 2018 when 38 governors mansions will be up for grabs. Were counseling people to put forth their own focused economic agenda about how they would move their state forward.

Its led to a schism between those who insist the party will only succeed in 2018 if its candidates run on a centralized agenda, and those who point to recent wave elections like the GOPs 2010 victory and Democrats 2006 romp as evidence that mere antipathy toward the party in power, rather than a memorable message, can be effective.

Sign up for our must-read newsletter on what's driving the afternoon in Washington.

By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Its a good thing that national Democrats are trying to coalesce around a generally unifying message about economic opportunity and job creation as an alternative to Trumpism. However, very few candidates are going to run on a national platform nor should they, cautioned communications strategist Zac Petkanas. While there will likely be similar themes about a corrupt, out-of-touch Trump Washington and creating economic opportunity for all, candidates are going to tailor their own messages against their individual opponents while taking advantage of a national Trump backlash. Thats how races are won and lost."

While Democratic senators who are up for re-election in 2018 were briefed on the new message ahead of time, their campaign teams are unlikely to rely heavily on a line that ties them closely to their unpopular national party, said a number of strategists working on those races. A similar dynamic faces the partys gubernatorial candidates: 27 of the contested seats are held by Republicans, including some in heavily conservative states where national Democrats are especially unpopular.

If youre not in the majority, there shouldnt be a coordinated message, said another Democratic consultant who is working on a wide range of 2018 races, acknowledging that arguing against a unified message is unfashionable at the moment. The message should be: The other guy sucks, or The Iraq War sucks, depending on the decade.

Moderate House Democrats have taken a cautious approach to the new messaging strategy.

Lawmakers from left-of-center groups like the New Democrats and the Blue Dog Coalition joined other members at the podium to tout the Better Deal during a press conference last week. But while both groups have broadly endorsed the idea of a pro-economic agenda something they said was sorely lacking heading into November 2016 theyve noticeably shied away from voicing support for the specific progressive-leaning policy ideas outlined so far.

We agree on the broader goal of creating economic prosperity for the American people, said Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, another Blue Dog leader. What we want to do is create economic opportunities, not guarantee results.

That tap dance isnt by accident. Moderates want to be seen as team players, which is why some attended the Better Deal roll-out press conference. They support the overall goals of the messaging initiative, but dont intend to run on a message that they worry can be interpreted as anti-business back home in their districts.

Still, several centrist lawmakers and aides told POLITICO they are encouraged that their leaders are shifting the spotlight away from social issues that threaten to divide the party and toward economic issues where there is more agreement.

Blue Dogs, in particular, say they are encouraged by the attention they have received from Democratic leaders after years of feeling like theyre stuck on the margins. Theyve worked closely with House Democrats campaign arm on recruitment in recent months and are relieved pro-jobs policies finally seem to be the partys focus.

Yet the Schumer-driven effort isnt the last word. The Democratic National Committee has for months been working on its own rebranding project. Led by new Chairman Tom Perez, the DNC has brought both public and private sector voices into a wide-ranging discussion about Democratic identity, while a handful of state party leaders left out of the congressional conversation are plowing ahead with their own unrelated efforts to define a new agenda.

In battleground Ohio, the state party formed a messaging working group after the election that included advertising and consumer marketing professionals in addition to party activists. They meet regularly to devise a new brand and narrative for Democrats in a state that Trump won easily after two consecutive Obama victories an effort supplemented by the state partys polling, focus groups, and extensive individual interviews of voters who backed Trump after supporting Obama or who sat out 2016 altogether.

Still more influential groups havent even tried pushing a specific new campaign message theyre still studying the 2016 results. That includes organizations ranging from the centrist Third Way think tank to a forum convened by the AFL-CIO political director, to the House Majority PAC.

Even Priorities USA Action, the largest Democratic super PAC, has stopped short of concrete suggestions, instead urging allies to spend more time talking about economic issues and less about others like the Russia investigations.

Frankly, Im not focused on national Democratic slogans as much as I am on whats going on at peoples kitchen tables at home, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, who already faces one GOP challenger next year, said in an interview. But I think what theyre trying to do with it is really good and that is to simplify priorities on economic issues that really matter to working people.

In crafting the Better Deal plan that includes measures to keep drug prices in check, rein in big corporations, and improve job training, Schumer and others made sure to bring many allies of Bernie Sanders into the repeated meetings and strategy sessions. It was an attempt to find a message that could span the ideological breadth of the Democratic Caucus, satisfying both the Vermont senator and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who faces a difficult reelection campaign in a state Trump won by 42 points.

But neither side has embraced it fully. The group spawned from Sanders' presidential campaign, Our Revolution, continues to pressure lawmakers to sign onto eight progressive bills from a single-payer health care measure to automatic voter registration legislation. And many Sanders supporters remain deeply suspicious of anything produced by party leadership.

Manchin, a member of Schumers leadership team, openly questioned why it would take two new agencies a reference to the creation of two new government entities to help consumers, one focused on drug prices and another on antitrust to crack down on corporate influence.

Were not going to all have the same concerns and have the same fixes, said Manchin, who was consulted in advance on the rural broadband proposal included in the national agenda and otherwise praised Schumers attempts at creating an inclusive message.

So if theres going to be a big tent, he added, party leaders should understand that we have problems too in red states.

Other red-state Senate Democrats expressed similarly cautious support for the partys new messaging.

We need new ideas, and I appreciate the opportunity to have ongoing discussions about the overall agenda, North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp said.

Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who joins Heitkamp and Manchin near the top of the GOPs 2018 target list, said generally speaking, I support the agenda because its got a lot of stuff for broadband and infrastructure.

Leaders dont expect every politically endangered incumbent to embrace the entire agenda on the campaign trail, according to one senior Senate Democratic aide.

There is no question that quality candidates and campaigns that focus on the particular needs of different states and districts are essential, the aide said. But anyone who doesnt think we Democrats need to offer a positive economic agenda need only look in the Oval Office and the Hill to see that what weve been doing hasnt worked. People in California, Montana, Florida and Missouri want better paying jobs and to see their expenses go down the appeal is universal.

Missing out on the latest scoops? Sign up for POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning in your inbox.

Read the original:
Democrats snub new party message - Politico