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A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 18 July 2017
With 2018 looming, Democrats divided on their core message

By STEVE PEOPLES statehouses in the 2018 tol Hill and no major GOP calls to impeach the Re- Democratic leaders are re-
BILL BARROW midterm elections. Yet with legislative achievement, publican president as new luctant to pursue that ap-
Associated Press a Russia scandal engulf- Democrats are still strug- evidence indicates pos- proach as it only energizes
NEW YORK (AP) — House the GOP base. Others want
Democratic Caucus Chair- Democrats to focus on the
man Joe Crowley hesitat- GOP’s plans to strip health
ed when asked about his insurance from millions of
party’s core message to Americans. And still others
voters. say those arguments can
“That message is being be fashioned into a simpli-
worked on,” the New York fied brand.
congressman said in an As Democratic officials
interview this past week. debate their party’s mes-
“We’re doing everything sage, so do voters across
we can to simplify it, but America.
at the same time provide Just 37 percent of adults
the meat behind it as well. believe the Democratic
So that’s coming together Party “stands for some-
now.” thing,” according to a
The admission from the No. Washington Post-ABC poll
4 House Democrat — that released on Monday. An-
his party lacks a clear, core other 52 percent said the
message even amid Re- party “just stands against
publican disarray — high- Trump.”
lights the Democrats’ di- For now, at least, Demo-
lemma eight months after crats are waging a tug-of-
President Donald Trump war largely between the
and the GOP dominat- In this Feb. 25, 2017 photo, Tom Perez, speaks in Atlanta. As Democrats look to reverse Republi- Russia investigation and the
ed last fall’s elections, in cans’ monopoly control in Washington and the GOP advantage in state capitals, the party is still GOP’s attempts to gut the
part, because Democrats looking for a crisp, simple message for voters. “We know that we can be an America that works 2010 Affordable Care Act.
lacked a consistent mes- for everyone, because we believe that our diversity is our greatest strength. ... And we believe that Several liberal groups that
sage. when we put hope on the ballot we do well, and when we allow others to put fear in the eyes of had been laser-focused on
people we don’t do so hot,” said Perez.
The soul-searching comes (AP Photo/Branden Camp) health care have intensi-
as Democrats look to flip fied calls for impeachment
at least 24 GOP-held seats in recent weeks, including
necessary for a House ma- ing the White House, a his- gling to tell voters what sible collusion between MoveOn.org, Indivisible
jority and cut into Repub- torically unpopular health- their party stands for. Trump’s campaign and and UltraViolet.
lican advantages in U.S. care plan wrenching Capi- Some want to rally behind the Russian government. “We need to be talking
about impeachment con-
stantly,” said Scott Dwor-
kin, co-founder of the
recently formed Demo-
cratic Coalition Against
Trump. He warned on Twit-
ter, “If you’re an elected
Dem & you’re not talk-
ing impeachment or 25th
amendment then find a
new party.”
Yet one of the left’s favor-
ites, Vermont Sen. Bernie
Sanders, is focusing almost
exclusively on health care.
Sanders, an independent
who caucuses with Senate
Democrats, said in an inter-
view that “there should not
be a rush to judgment” af-
ter emails released by Don-
ald Trump’s son this week
revealed that Trump’s top
advisers held a meeting
with a lawyer they were
told represented the Rus-
sian government.
Sanders sidestepped ques-
tions about impeach-
ment, warning instead that
“many, many thousands
of Americans” will die ev-
ery year if the GOP health
care plan becomes law. q