Democrats launch task force to review party’s midterm struggles

Democrats are turning to Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and others to lead a task force to address problems in recent midterm elections.

The Democratic National Committee on Thursday named a 10-person panel to examine the party's struggles during the 2014 and 2010 elections and recommend solutions. It aims to figure out why Democrats have struggled to turn out core voters in nonpresidential races and will examine its tactics, messaging and get-out-the-vote operations.

DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, said Democrats hope to "build on what we've done that works, identify and prioritize challenges and ultimately improve our party's performance in future elections."

President Barack Obama's party suffered massive losses in the November elections, giving up control of the Senate, losing seats in the House and ceding control in several states.

The post-mortem will feature a cross-section of party loyalists and activists, including Beshear, who was first elected in 2007 in GOP-leaning Kentucky; Schmidt, Google's former CEO and an informal adviser to Obama's team; Donna Brazile, the DNC's vice chair and a veteran of presidential campaigns; Colorado party chairman Rick Palacio and Lee Saunders, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union.

Other panelists will offer expertise in fundraising, legal issues, digital efforts and other issues. The task force plans to release preliminary findings at the DNC's winter meeting in February and finish its work by mid-2015.