According to Robert Novak, a post-election Democratic Leadership Council memo by Al From and Bruce Reed had the following advice for Democrats. [Full disclosure: In a former life, I did a little consulting work for the SCDLC, the DLC's South Carolina affiliate.]

Close the cultural gap that, left unchecked, will give Republicans back a virtual lock on the Electoral College and doom any chance of Democrats taking back the Congress. Half that battle is simply respecting the values of mainstream America in the first place. We will never be the party that loves guns most, but we can respect law-abiding citizens' rights to own them. We will never be the pro-life party, but we can show that we want abortion to be rare as well as legal.

That's true, and it's good advice, but the Democrats probably need to lose another election before they'll be ready to listen.
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