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Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, speaks at a press conference pitching the borough of Brooklyn to host the 2016 Democratic National Convention (DNC) outside the Barclay Center on August 11, 2014 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Andrew Burton, Getty Images

Democrats will choose between Columbus, New York and Philadelphia for their 2016 convention site, where they will formalize their nominee for president, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced Monday.

The DNC is looking at the weeks of July 18, July 25 and August 22, 2016 for the convention.

"We're thrilled to move to the next step of the selection process to determine where Democrats will come together to nominate the 45th President of the United States," Wasserman Schultz wrote in an email to supporters. "We are fortunate to have such a diverse and vibrant group of cities interested in hosting this special event and we thank Phoenix and Birmingham for showcasing their special communities. We look forward to working with Columbus, New York, and Philadelphia as we go forward."

She also said the final city and date will be announced early next year.

In addition to Birmingham, Alabama and Phoenix, Democrats were eyeing Cleveland, but the Republicans beat them to it, announcing in August that Cleveland would be their convention site. It is the first time the city will have hosted a national convention since 1936, and was chosen in part because a recent increase in hotel construction will allow the city to accommodate the 50,000 people the convention could draw.

The GOP convention is likely to be held earlier than the Democrats', with June 28 as a potential start date. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has expressed a preference for wrapping up the nominating process earlier in the summer, although the date could be pushed back. Basketball star LeBron James' return to the Cleveland Cavaliers might help the NBA team make it to the NBA finals, which usually take place in mid-June.

Democrats held their 2012 nominating convention in Charlotte and the Republicans in Tampa.

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Democrats narrow 2016 convention choice to 3 cities

WASHINGTON Senate Democrats' top message man is urging the party leftward in the wake of crushing midterm election losses, saying working Americans want a robust government that will promote education access, labor bargaining rights, progressive taxes and more.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said his party erred five years ago by putting health care reform ahead of jobs and economic priorities. The vast majority of Americans were relatively happy with their employer-provided health insurance in 2009, he said, and the health care overhaul's message was aimed at about 5 percent of the electorate: those who lacked insurance and who voted.

"To aim a huge change in mandate at such a small percentage of the electorate made no political sense," Schumer said. "Unfortunately Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them. We took their mandate and put all of our focus on the wrong problem health care reform."

He said he expressed such concerns at the time. His office later said he "expressed those concerns privately to fellow Democrats."

Schumer's remarks come a few weeks after Republicans won control of the Senate and boosted their House majority in the midterm elections. He said the way back to influence on Capitol Hill is to appeal to voters who support "an active and forceful government" to help them cope with globalization, technology and other forces keeping middle incomes stagnant.

Schumer said Democrats made it easier for Republicans to paint government as bloated and inept with "the rollout of the Obamacare exchanges, the mishandling of the surge in border crossers, ineptitude at the (Department of Veterans Affairs) and the government's initial handling of the Ebola threat."

Schumer oversaw Democrats' campaign efforts in two highly successful elections, 2006 and 2008, and is chairman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. Some see him as a potential successor to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters the administration is happy to revisit the health care law "because we believe strongly that the Affordable Care Act is working."

Republicans ridiculed Schumer's call for a more robust federal government.

"The failure of big-government liberalism is why liberals were overwhelmingly rebuked at the polls this month," the conservative group YG Network said.

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Schumer to Democrats: Focus on health care was a mistake

In a speech diagnosing his party's political missteps in 2014, a top Senate Democrat reached back to the decision to pursue an overhaul of the health system in late 2009 as an example of how the party took its focus off middle-class priorities, saying healthcare was "the wrong problem" to address at the time.

New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, who leads Senate Democrats' policy and messaging efforts, argued in a speech Tuesday that when Americans were "crying out" for additional steps to combat the economic crisis at the time, "not for changes in healthcare."

"After passing the stimulus, Democrats should have continued to propose middle class-oriented programs and built on the partial success of the stimulus, but unfortunately Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them," he said. "We took their mandate and put all of our focus on the wrong problem."

Americans turned to the GOP in the 2010 elections as a result of that decision, but the GOP -- fueled by the tea party -- overreached and paved the way for President Obama's reelection two years later, Schumer said. When the government shutdown of 2013 put Democrats in position to regain the political upper hand, the party was felled by a "cascade of issues," including the Obamacare website debacle, treatment delays at Veterans Administration hospitals, a border crisis and the Ebola outbreak -- all of which Schumer said "served to illustrate the inability of government to solve problems."

"Each time a party appears to be in charge, but is unable to convince the public they have the solution for easing middle-class decline, the electorate picks the other party -- creating a sort of electoral whiplash," Schumer said. But by focusing narrowly on policies that promote the middle class and embracing government as a force to achieve that end, Schumer said, the Democrats can secure their position as a majority party for the next generation.

Schumer's assessment that Democrats should have waited before pursuing an overhaul of the healthcare system is not a new one for him. But revisiting the issue -- particularly when it seemed the issue of Obamacare had been largely neutralized by the 2014 elections -- hints at a debate simmering between Capitol Hill Democrats and the Obama administration over who bears the most blame for the recent election losses.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times last week, said she intended to have House Democrats take a more prominent role in shaping their own message, noting that congressional candidates suffered because top-of-the-ticket candidates seemed to run away from the party label.

When the issue of healthcare resurfaced in a Q&A session Tuesday, Schumer said he understood the feeling of some that there was a narrow political window in which Democrats could pass reform that they needed to seize.

"We should have done it," he said. "We just shouldn't have done it first. We were in the middle of a recession, people were hurting and said, What about me?'"

Schumer was one of the architects of the party's 2014 "Fair Shot" agenda that was designed to help keep Democrats in the Senate majority. The platform called for votes on issues like the minimum wage, equal pay for women in the workplace and student loan affordability. Schumer insisted that the strategy was a sound one, even though Democrats lost the Senate majority in the midterm election earlier this month.

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Schumer: Democrats erred by pursuing health reform too soon

Democrats smarting from this years midterm losses need to focus on policies benefiting the middle class, something they failed to do when they pursued the 2010 federal health-care law, Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Tuesday.

Mr. Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, suggested Democrats have veered from this focus to their detriment in recent years. In a sharp criticism, he said Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them following the 2008 elections by focusing on an overhaul of the health-care system.

It wasnt the change we were hired to make; Americans were crying out for an end to the recession, for better wages and more jobs, not for changes in their health care, Mr. Schumer said in a speech at the National Press Club. He later added that when Democrats focused on health care, the average middle-class person thought, the Democrats are not paying enough attention to me.

If Democrats hope to rebound in 2016, they need to outline a specific plan and programs that, if enacted, would actually improve lives and incomes, he said.

By using government in a careful, focused way, we will provide a shield against the large forces that have worked against middle-class families so that they have a better job and more money in their pockets, Mr. Schumer said.

Democrats have been forced to do some soul-searching in the wake of bruising midterm elections that saw them lose control of the Senate to a Republican Party that also cemented a larger majority in the House of Representatives. Senate Democrats expressed their frustrations in a recent closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill that ran more than four hours.

Mr. Schumer, who as a member of the Democratic leadership will help shape his partys response to the new GOP majority, said his plan should unite the spectrum of Democrats, from former Sen. Hillary Clinton to the more left-leaningSen.Elizabeth Warren(D., Mass.). The party cannot run away from its belief that the government can be a force for good, he said, because its what unites the party.

If we run away from government, downplay it, or act as if we are embarrassed by its role, people wont vote for our pale version of the Republican view: theyll vote for the real McCoy, Mr. Schumer said. He added that Democrats need to add a populist element to their outreach, even for those of us who dont consider ourselves populists.

Ms. Warren offered a similar prescription for the party last week, warning Democrats they must not get too cozy with large corporations at the expense of the middle class.

Mr. Schumer acknowledged that Democrats have been hurt by a number of government missteps, including problems in the Department of Veterans Affairsand rollout of the federal health-care law, that contributed to the publics belief that the government doesnt work.

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Schumer to Democrats: Convince Middle Class Were on Their Side

Democrats smarting from this years midterm losses need to focus on policies benefiting the middle class, something they failed to do when they pursued the 2010 federal health-care law, Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Tuesday.

Mr. Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, suggested Democrats have veered from this focus to their detriment in recent years. In a sharp criticism, he said Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them following the 2008 elections by focusing on an overhaul of the health-care system.

It wasnt the change we were hired to make; Americans were crying out for an end to the recession, for better wages and more jobs, not for changes in their health care, Mr. Schumer said in a speech at the National Press Club. He later added that when Democrats focused on health care, the average middle-class person thought, the Democrats are not paying enough attention to me.

If Democrats hope to rebound in 2016, they need to outline a specific plan and programs that, if enacted, would actually improve lives and incomes, he said.

By using government in a careful, focused way, we will provide a shield against the large forces that have worked against middle-class families so that they have a better job and more money in their pockets, Mr. Schumer said.

Democrats have been forced to do some soul-searching in the wake of bruising midterm elections that saw them lose control of the Senate to a Republican Party that also cemented a larger majority in the House of Representatives. Senate Democrats expressed their frustrations in a recent closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill that ran more than four hours.

Mr. Schumer, who as a member of the Democratic leadership will help shape his partys response to the new GOP majority, said his plan should unite the spectrum of Democrats, from former Sen. Hillary Clinton to the more left-leaningSen.Elizabeth Warren(D., Mass.). The party cannot run away from its belief that the government can be a force for good, he said, because its what unites the party.

If we run away from government, downplay it, or act as if we are embarrassed by its role, people wont vote for our pale version of the Republican view: theyll vote for the real McCoy, Mr. Schumer said. He added that Democrats need to add a populist element to their outreach, even for those of us who dont consider ourselves populists.

Ms. Warren offered a similar prescription for the party last week, warning Democrats they must not get too cozy with large corporations at the expense of the middle class.

Mr. Schumer acknowledged that Democrats have been hurt by a number of government missteps, including problems in the Department of Veterans Affairsand rollout of the federal health-care law, that contributed to the publics belief that the government doesnt work.

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Schumer: Health Law Took Democrats Off Course