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JACKSONVILLE, Ala. If the Democratic Party is ailing after losing the presidency to Donald Trump, state parties are on life support.

Here in the long-ago Democratic stronghold of Alabama, the party is all but dead, say some of its disheartened members. Consider: Not a single statewide office is held by a Democrat; the state Legislature is dominated by Republicans with just 33 Democrats out of 105 House seats and eight of 35 Senate seats.

Democrats havent won a U.S. Senate election in the state since 1992 or the governorship since 1998. There are no Democratic appellate judges, nor any Democratic members of the states Public Service Commission. Democrats also are becoming scarcer in county offices.

The Democratic Party in Alabama is on a crash-and-burn track unless something drastic happens to stop this runaway train, according to Sheila Gilbert, chair of the Calhoun County Democrats, who hand-delivered a letter outlining the partys problems following a speech I gave at Jacksonville State University as the Ayers lecturer.

The letter was signed by Gilbert as a leader of the Alabama Democratic Reform Caucus (ADRC) and 17 other members in attendance. The group, which formed two years ago to try to help revive the state party, wasnt coy about its reason for approaching me.

We need a spotlight on Alabama and some outside effort to avoid becoming a totally one-party state, Gilbert said.

I didnt bother to mention that the current U.S. attorney general, former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, was shining quite a spotlight on their home state. Whether Sessions is forced to resign after already recusing himself from any investigation into Russias role in the 2016 election campaign remains to be seen. The fall of such a high-profile Republican could be useful to Democrats back home trying to defibrillate the party.

But Gilberts group has been critical of state Democratic Party officials for missing an opportunity to recruit candidates when other Republican politicians were in trouble, including the governor and House speaker. A recent meeting of county and state party leaders reportedly became heated, as when state Chairwoman Nancy Worley offered to call police to escort one county chairman from the room and may be emblematic more broadly of the partys disintegration from within.

The GOP went through this same sort of infighting and navel-gazing on the national level several years back. After losing the presidency to Barack Obama in 2008, it regrouped, reformed itself, became disciplined and has taken the House, Senate, the White House and most of the nations governorships, while also successfully gerrymandering congressional districts that have given Republicans the advantage in many states at least until the next redistricting in 2020.

Democrats are readying themselves for that fight, but theyll need to do more than try to redraw the map. While Democrats were basking in Obamas sunny smile, Republicans were busy building benches of future leaders, especially at the state attorney general level, where they are now in the majority. The strategy has been to recruit and help elect strong attorneys general who could be groomed to become governors, senators and possibly president.

What, meanwhile, can Democrats do, a fellow in the audience asked me.

There was a plaintive tone in his voice and I wanted to help, though the truth is, Im not accustomed to Democrats asking my advice. But in the spirit of it takes two to tango and the fact that Id rather not live in a country exclusively run by either party Ill give it a fresh, morning-after stab.

Whats really ailing Democrats is theyve fallen in love with abstract principles, as reflected on an ADRC handout, without building a foundation where such goals as fair pay, transparency, diversity and such can be played out. Trump may have been coarse and loose at times during the campaign, but he spoke in plain language with plain meaning: Jobs, jobs, jobs.

Whether Trump can fix trade, create jobs and make money for the rest of us was a gamble people were willing to take. Fixing the economy was Obamas mandate, too, but he decided to focus on health care instead. This is where lust for legacy interferes with good governance. Obama did manage to help turn the economic steamship around the market bounced from just under 8,000 when he took office to nearly 20,000 but Wall Streets recovery didnt trickle down to the middle class, where Trump planted his flag.

When in doubt, look to the victor.

Kathleen Parker is a columnist for Washington Post Writers Group.

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Dispirited Democrats desperately seek revivial - The Spokesman-Review

State legislators across the country are debating new measures that would require candidates running for president to publicly disclose their tax returns to qualify for the ballot.

The measures are aimed at President Trump, who became the first White House candidate in recent times refuse to release his tax documents to the public.

Democrats, incensed by Trumps false claims of being prevented from releasing the documents because of an IRS audit, see the legislation on the state level as a way to force the presidents hand when he seeks reelection in 2020.

Tax return information would provide some transparency there to give voters the assurance that they need that the president is acting on behalf of us, said Kathleen Clyde, an Ohio state representative who recently introduced a version of the bill. It is problematic that he is the only candidate in 30 or 40 years not to provide that information.

Similar measures requiring candidates to file with Secretary of State offices have been introduced in California, Oregon and Tennessee. Candidates would be required to file tax documents with state boards of election under bills filed in Illinois, Maryland, New York and Rhode Island.

Other versions of the legislation would require presidential candidates to disclose their tax records in public, though not necessarily through state offices, before they qualify for the ballot. All told, 32 versions of tax disclosure bills have been filed in 19 states.

Most of the measures introduced this year have come from Democrats. Only one version of the bill, in Minnesota, was introduced by a Republican.

In states with Republican-led legislatures, the tax bills are as good as dead. Virginias legislature killed a disclosure bill in committee. Similar laws have been sent to die in committees in Arizona, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

But in other states, mostly those run by Democrats, some bills are making progress. Committees have approved versions in New Jersey and New Mexico. A legislative committee in Hawaii advanced their version of the bill this week.

Legislators in Maryland and Connecticut held hearings on their measures last month. Oregons version, sponsored by House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson (D), will likely advance to the floor.

And in California, where Democrats own a super majority of legislative seats, the bills prime sponsors expect it to advance after hearings are held in April. Mike McGuire, the California state senator who sponsored the bill, said he hopes his state will inspire others to action.

The office of the president is the only office in America that is exempt from conflict of interest laws, said Mike McGuire, the California senator who sponsored the bill. We believe that, as California goes, so many times, so goes the nation.

Legal experts said it is unclear whether requiring a candidate to disclose his or her tax returns would withstand legal scrutiny. Rick Hasen, a campaign legal expert at the University of California-Irvine and author of the Election Law Blog, wrote that U.S. Supreme Court cases have blocked states from adding qualifications for congressional candidates to ballot access rules, though those cases did not cover presidential elections.

If those cases applied here, it would be tough to argue that laws requiring presidential candidates to produce tax returns are constitutional as they would be adding to qualifications, Hasen wrote on his blog. However, those cases did not involve presidential elections, and perhaps state legislatures have much broader power under Article II.

McGuire said he had consulted with constitutional experts, andthat courts have approved other ballot access requirements, like collecting signatures or paying a fee.

States clearly have the ability to require a filing fee and other requirements before someone can be placed onto the ballot, McGuire said. Courts have upheld these requirements over the past several decades, and were sure theyre going to uphold this law as well.

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Democrats try new tactic to get Trump's tax returns | TheHill - The Hill

Democrats are pushing back on President Trumps Saturday morning claims that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower offices before the election.

While at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida for the weekend, Mr. Trump fired off a series of early morning tweets accusing President Obama, without citing evidence, of wiretapping Trump Tower. He described this as Nixon/Watergate, calling Mr. Obama a bad (or sick) guy.

Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser under Mr. Obama, denied Mr. Trumps accusations and responded by saying presidents cant order wiretaps:

And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called for an investigation by an independent commission into Mr. Trump and his campaign ties to Russia:

Others, including former Vermont Gov. and DNC Chairman Howard Dean and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-California, pointed out on Twitter that if Mr. Trumps allegations are true a judge would have had to find probable cause to approve the wiretap request:

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Democrats respond to Trump's wiretapping claim - CBS News

Now, Democrats building a long-term strategy for retaking power in Congress and the states are counting on winning big in statehouse races over the next two years.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi huddled privately with the leaders of the Democratic Governors Association last weekend and looked over maps of top targets. The group has 14 states in its sights and believes it would be impossible to lose more states to Republicans, especially if President Donald Trump continues to struggle.

The organization has picked out nine states that Hillary Clinton won and another five that went to President Barack Obama. Some of the targets are clear -- true blue bastions like Maryland, Massachusetts and Illinois, where Republicans upset Democratic favorites in 2014. But others are likely to be a slog reminiscent of the drubbing Clinton took in the Rust Belt, like fights in Wisconsin and Ohio.

"Look, there's anger against this President and what he has done and the chaos, the unpredictability, the violations of the Constitution," said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, the group's incoming president, who will lead their 2018 efforts. "So there is anger in every state -- to different proportions certainly. So we are going to look forward to 2018 and governors are absolutely pivotal to this."

The stakes for Democrats are more than just control over state governments: They're about the redrawing the congressional maps, which have helped Republicans maintain a firm grip on the House of Representatives since 2010.

A series of Democratic efforts sprouted up after the 2016 thrashing, including an effort led by Obama's former top aides, to look at how to win back more favorable maps and, eventually, control of the House.

And holding the governors' offices -- with their veto pens -- is central to that strategy.

"We are also the front line to prevent gerrymandering that has been so insidious, that has prevented people's wishes from being followed in Congress," Inslee said.

The bright spot for Democrats is that they are only defending 11 out of 38 seats over the next two years. But Democratic strategists who have been in the trenches of the states are leery that national Democrats, and Obama's own redistricting group, are ready to support them after years of ignoring them.

Republicans have racked up a 33-16 lead over Democrats in the governor's offices across the nation (the 50th governor, Alaska's Bill Walker, is an independent.) The sweep started in 2010 with the tea party wave that carried firebrands like Wisconsin's Scott Walker, Florida's Rick Scott and Maine's Paul LePage to victory.

Walker, who now chairs the Republican Governors Association, credited his organization's big-tent approach.

"We support Greg Abbott in Texas because it's Texas," Walker said. "We support Phil Scott in Vermont who is, on many issues, substantively different, but he matches Vermont and fits the people of Vermont. That's why you have Charlie Baker and Larry Hogan for example, who have over 70% approval ratings, who fit the unique needs and interests of other states like Massachusetts in Maryland, like the rest of us do in our own states."

Hogan and Baker, in particular, have become the most conspicuous targets for Democrats; Clinton won Maryland and Massachusetts by almost equally strong margins -- 26 percentage points and 27 percentage points.

Both governors have fought openly against Trump, making it harder for Democrats to tie them to the unpopular president, but the political peril is still palpable.

Baker and his entourage dodged national reporters at the National Governors Association meeting over the weekend -- an aide hastily pulled a handful of business cards from his pocket and shoved them into a CNN reporter's hand Sunday as he moved to head off questions for Baker.

But the governor told a local reporter over the weekend that he will continue to keep Trump at arm's length heading into 2018.

Democrats will get a test run this year with two fights in states Clinton won: New Jersey and Virginia. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is term-limited from seeking re-election and also deeply unpopular following the Bridgegate scandal, but Democrats ran into some trouble when presumptive frontrunner Phil Murphy, a former party finance chairman and ambassador to Germany, compared Trump to Hitler. Virginia has elected Democrats in three of the last four elections, but Democrats are playing defense this year in the purple state, which Clinton just narrowly won.

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Democrats say long-term success starts with 2018 governors' races ... - CNN

BERLIN German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives took a one point lead over the Social Democrats (SPD) in the latest poll conducted by Emnid for the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, with nearly seven months to go before federal elections.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its CSU Bavarian sister party gained one percentage point to reach 33 percent support, compared with an unchanged 32 percent for the SPD in a poll of 1,403 people taken from Feb. 23 to March 1.

The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party gained one percentage point in the poll to reach 10 percent, while the ratings for the Left party and pro-environment Green party were unchanged at 8 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

The Free Democratic Party lost one percentage point compared to the last poll to reach 6 percent, just above the 5 percent threshold needed to take seats in parliament.

The increase for Merkel's conservatives came after a surge in support for the SPD that followed its nomination of former European Parliament President Martin Schulz as its candidate to challenge Merkel in the Sept. 24 national election.

Merkel, who is seeking a fourth term in the election, leads a coalition government made up of the CDU/CSU and the center-left SPD, but Schulz is hoping to win enough votes to form a new government with smaller allies.

The unexpectedly strong gains shown by the SPD - and the CDU/CSU's slide - have prompted some German media to write about "Merkel fatigue" and what they see as the chancellor's lack of enthusiasm for this year's campaign.

"Angela Merkel suddenly seems like one of those dinosaurs that was incapable of adapting in time, and could only hang around limply waiting for its own extinction," wrote Jakob Augstein, a columnist for Der Spiegel magazine, in Sunday's edition.

But the new Emnid poll and others taken over the past week showed Merkel's conservatives have now stabilized and are now polling neck-and-neck or just ahead of the Social Democrats.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Bernard Orr)

ISTANBUL A Syrian air force pilot who bailed out as his warplane crashed on Turkish territory has been found by a Turkish rescue team and is being treated at a hospital in the Hatay region, a hospital spokeswoman said on Sunday.

WASHINGTON The White House budget director confirmed Saturday that the Trump administration will propose "fairly dramatic reductions" in the U.S. foreign aid budget later this month.

LONDON Finance minister Philip Hammond said he would not take advantage of an expected lowering in Britain's future borrowing requirements and spend heavily because the country needs "reserves in the tank" ahead of its impending divorce from the European Union.

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German conservatives edge ahead of Social Democrats in Emnid poll - Reuters