Aloha and Namaste, everyone, and welcome to Impolitic with John Heilman, a puck and

Odyssey joint featuring lively and in-depth conversations with people who cruise the corridors

of power all over America, sculpting, shaping the ebb and flow of our politics and our culture.

For all the trouble that Donald Trump has been in lately, from the Jeffrey Epstein story to

economic numbers that suggest his tariff agenda may soon usher in an era of stagflation

to his declining approval ratings on what was once his strongest issue, immigration,

it is fair to say that the Democratic Party, despite exhibiting the occasional flash of fighting spirit or message discipline, remains stubbornly in the doldrums, unloved, and unpopular, according to all credible polling data, emitting vibes more desultory and disillusioned

than focused and determined, still litigating the question of whether Joe Biden or Kamala Harris

is more to blame for what happened at the polls in November and at the same time engaged in

all manner of factional squabbling about where the party needs to go from here. None of which is

terribly surprising given the drubbing that Democrats received in November, which left them in control

of precisely zero national power centers, not the White House, not the House, not the Senate,

and not the majority of governorships around the country, with Republicans holding 27 of those for the

record, and Democrats just 23. When people say a party is in the wilderness, this is what it looks

and feels like people. It is cold out there. You're sleeping on the ground. You're eating bark and

bugs. You're rubbing sticks together for a little bit of light and heat. And while some people enjoy camping well enough as recreation, when it comes to politics,

it's a hell of a lot better to be pitched up in a suite at the Ritz.

Our guest today, however, are two professional Democrats who are not depressed or bummed out

at all.

In fact, they're surprisingly hopeful.

And that's because they believe they see a path out of the wilderness for their party,

one that charts an unlikely but promising route through the country's state legislatures.

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