DISORIENTED DEMOCRATS STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT HIT THEM. On Feb. 1, the Democratic National Committee will gather in suburban Maryland to elect a new chair. Every indication suggests Democrats still don’t fully appreciate what happened to them in the 2024 election.

The two main contenders are Ken Martin, who is head of the Minnesota state Democratic Party, which is actually known as the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and Ben Wikler, chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Press reports suggest Martin is running a little ahead of Wikler. A lot of the discussion of the race involves internal party matters, such as the distribution of resources, and not the details of Democratic positions on various hot political issues.