Sen. Kaufman: Democrats Have PR Problem

Retiring Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., says Democrats failed to engage the public in their ambitious legislative agenda in this Congress, Roll Call reports. And that public relations failure could cost them dearly in the November elections.

“Just from a political prism, we spent way too much time legislating and way too little time messaging,” Kaufman told Roll Call. “Essentially, when we passed a bill, we moved on to the next one. We didn’t spend time litigating it, we didn’t spend time letting [the public] know what we were doing.”

Kaufman also castigates liberals for not getting on board with what Congress did. “I began to see it [criticism] from a lot of people on the left, a lot of people I sympathize with,” Kaufman said. “I can understand that. ... But to say [the Senate is] dysfunctional? Naw.”