How Democrats Lost the Plot

Let's Find Common Ground

USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future

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5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Democratic Strategist Tad Devine joins political and polling experts, Dale Butland, John Della Volpe, Mike Madrid, Carissa Smith, and Stephanie Young, for a conversation exploring how Kamala Harris and Democrats performed during the 2024 general election. They discuss the Democratic Party's messaging, how candidates connected—or didn't—with key voting demographics, and what polling revealed about voters. This discussion is part of the Warschaw Conference on Practical Politics “The Trumping of America: Why and What's Next?” in partnership with POLITICO, PBS’ "Firing Line with Margaret Hoover," and C-SPAN.

Featuring:
Tad Devine (Moderator): Chief Strategist, Bernie Sanders' 2016 Presidential Campaign
Dale Butland: Democratic Strategist; Former Press Secretary and Ohio Chief of Staff for US Senator John Glenn
John Della Volpe: Author; Director of Polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics
Mike Madrid: Latino Pollster and Voting Expert; Author of “The Latino Century”
Carissa Smith: Former Senior Public Engagement Advisor in the White House Office of Public Engagement
Stephanie Young: Former Deputy Assistant to President Biden; Senior Advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Let's Find Common Ground from the Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California's Dornside College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences.
0:15.3	I'm Bob Shrum, director of the center. And I'm Republican Mike Murphy, co-director of the Center. Our podcast brings
0:22.6	together America's leading politicians, strategists, journalists, and academics from across the
0:28.4	political spectrum for in-depth discussions where we respect each other and we respect the truth.
0:35.0	We hope you enjoy these conversations.
0:41.2	Well, welcome. Welcome to how the Democrats lost the plot. Okay, that's the name of our.
0:47.2	And, you know, when I first read that, I really wasn't sure what it meant to tell you the truth.
0:52.1	I mean, what I mean? So when I arrived here, I asked my old friend and former business
0:56.6	colleague, partner, Bob Schrum, I said, what does that mean? How did the Democrats lose the
1:01.2	plot? And he explained it to me. So I looked it up. And according to the Collins English
1:05.8	dictionary, it is an idiomatic way of saying that someone has become confused, disorganized, or mentally unstable.
1:15.3	Okay, so now we know what we're talking about today.
1:17.7	I'm talking about the Democratic Party.
1:19.7	And fortunately, you don't have to hear from me so much as from this great panel that we have assembled,
1:25.3	who I'd like to introduce you.
1:26.9	First, Dale Butler is a Democratic introduce you. First, Dale Butlin is a Democratic
1:29.0	strategist, former press secretary to Ohio Senator John Glenn, and was his Ohio chief of staff.
1:36.4	Dale has a tremendous understanding of Midwestern politics, not just in Ohio, but across the region,
1:43.0	which in recent years has become the central
1:45.5	battleground of presidential campaigns.
1:47.9	John Delavopi is someone I've known since I met him when he was a junior in college in Boston.
1:53.5	He was looking to volunteer for a campaign, the Dukakis campaign.
	...

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