Senate Democrats in Disarray After Losses

Democrats in the Senate are feeling so beaten down after the drubbing their party took in this month’s elections that they are having trouble regrouping so that they can get something done. After meetings last week, the Democratic caucus remains a fragmented mess, Roll Call reports.

“It’s like a giant psychiatric session,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said of the caucus meetings. “I mean, what everyone is doing is trying to talk out how they feel.”

The disarray isn’t lost on Republicans.

“Until Democrats recognize Americans rejected them not because of how they communicated but what they were advocating, they will continue flailing around,” says Ryan Loskarn, staff director for the Senate Republican Conference, which is chaired by Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. “The Republican caucus as a whole has a far better understanding of what the country is asking of their leaders and that’s given us an incredibly unifying sense of purpose and direction.”