Good morning. Maybe they win Tuesday. Maybe they win a whole lot. But the major problems Democrats revealed in the past week won't go away even if there is a Blue Wave.
This election was never really about a united message from Democrats. Rather, it had turned into a referendum on President Trump, the Iran war, prices, and-to a certain extent-an antitech backlash.
But hoooooooo boy. In the past week, Democrats have put some of their problems on full display.
In no place has the dysfunction been as apparent as Michigan. Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens on Sunday endorsed Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for Senate. This followed two days of "passive aggressive" and then finally "aggressive aggressive" squabbling between Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate.
El-Sayed barely edged Stevens in the primary earlier this year, and clearly their differences had never been mended. Their rift of new guard vs. old guard is something Democrats are going to have to contend with after the election. The implications will be wide-ranging on everything from the budget, to Israel policy, to how to confront Trump. Can Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries keep Democrats united? So far, it doesn't appear so. (Notably, Schumer issued a statement calling it a "despicable betrayal from Rep. Stevens.").
And then, there's Alaska and the mysterious vanishing Senate candidate, Dan J. Sullivan Jr. The extent to which staff for Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola helped install a spoiler candidate (Sullivan Jr., not to be confused with Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, or maybe "to be confused" is the whole point) is now under investigation. Is it a crime? We will see. Is it a mess? Most certainly. Could it affect the outcome of the election in that state? Perhaps most fittingly, polls don't close in Alaska until 1 a.m. ET Wednesday.