After a staggering loss in the presidential contest- soul searching and the future of the Democratic Party.

Democratic U.S. Senator-Elect, Attorney General Kamala Harris speaks to supporters at a election night rally Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016 in Los Angeles. (Chris Carlson/AP)

For Democrats, the Election Day dream was so big they could taste it. A Democrat and woman in the White House. A Democratic majority in the Senate. Supreme Court nominations lined up for years. And it all went the other way. Now, Democrats have been plunged into a time of big, hard questions. What should this party be and stand for? The Sanders way? The Clinton way? Something else? Is it the party of the working class? This hour On Point, the future of the Democratic Party. — Tom Ashbrook

Guests

E.J. Dionne, politics columnist at the Washington Post. Senior fellow in governance at the Brookings Institution. (@EJDionne)

Douglas Schoen, Democratic consultant and former pollster for former President Bill Clinton. (@douglaseschoen)

Nina Turner, former Ohio State Senator. Surrogate for the former presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Board member at Our Revolution. (@ninaturner)

Rep.-Elect Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), incoming U.S. Representative for the seventh district of Washington state. (@PramilaJayapal)

From Tom’s Reading List

The Guardian: What now for progressives after Hillary Clinton's loss? — "Liberal activists had been preparing for months to hold a President Hillary Clinton’s feet to the fire and make sure she stuck to the bold progressive agenda that had emerged from her bruising primary battle with leftwing senator Bernie Sanders. Instead, on issues as varied as Wall Street reform, climate change, women’s rights and criminal justice, they now face their worst-case scenario: a Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress."

Washington Post: The remarkably thin Democratic bench just got badly exposed -- "The truth — as exposed by Clinton's stunning loss to Donald Trump on Tuesday night — was that the Democratic bench was (and is) remarkably thin, a sign of both the relative ill health of the party downballot and the isolated appeal of Obama."

New York Times: Make Millennials a Part of the Party’s Rebuilding — "For the Democratic Party to move forward and win, young people — some of the party's most vocal critics — cannot be shut out of what will be a rebuilding process. Party leadership must bring millennials into the fold with a focus on the issues. Millennials must be brought to the table as equals, their ideas and sentiments valued and their input turned to action. More than just television and radio ads, the Democratic Party must actively show up in communities from Seattle to Oakland, Denver to Atlanta, Minneapolis to Philadelphia, Miami to Baltimore and everywhere in between to extend an offer of partnership to young voters."