Oh, please.

While it's important to have a discussion about what our Democratic Party leadership should do next, there's clearly some things they shouldn't do. One of those things is feeding reporters stories that carry ledes like this...

WASHINGTON — Reeling from their party's loss in the presidential election, some key Democratic financiers and strategists say they have learned a clear lesson: Next time around, no Northeasterners need apply.

Oh really? Who sez?

Well, the dateline's Washington, the paper's in LA, but there's a particular regional flavor among the "financiers and strategists" they consulted.

We have to be very careful about the kind of candidate that we nominate and where that candidate comes from," said Scott Falmlen, executive director of the Democratic Party in North Carolina..."This party has got to get in a position where it does not write off an entire section of the country."

Dick Harpootlian, former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, was more blunt. "As of now, Hillary Clinton's a bad idea," he said.

The standard-bearer should be a face from the South or the Midwest, he added, naming Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, this year's vice presidential nominee, or Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana as presidential possibilities.

OK, the Carolinas have been heard from. Thanks for the advice, guys, but you know, if I'm going to go around slamming a region of the country, I think I'd avoid the one that provided a solid wall of support for our nominee this year. And while I'm working up lists of candidates, I might consider folks from some states that a Democratic presidential ticket is actually likely to carry.

I'm not saying we have to go back to Massachusetts for our nominee again (though I'm wide open to the idea), but does anyone think that John Edwards or Evan Bayh, fine fellows both of 'em, would have outperformed John Kerry at the top of the ticket this year?

Yeah, we lost. Yeah, we're shocked that a gross incompetent like George W. Bush could beat anybody, but that's a partisan position. Any more objective analysis would consider how difficult it is to unseat an incumbent President during war time, while American troops are engaged in ground combat overseas. Does
"unprecedented" ring a bell? In that light, John Kerry's performance shines. He came closer, much closer, than anyone ever has under the circumstances, despite the dishonest, dishonorable campaign waged against him.

And would somebody tell the LA Times that we've got a few "key Democratic financiers and strategists" outside the Carolinas? Some of 'em are even in, of all places, Boston...