McCaskill calls out Democrats' failure to connect with rural Americans

NPR ran this "exit interview" with Claire McCaskill, U.S. Senator for Missouri, yesterday.  The headline is "McCaskill Blames Senate Defeat on Democratic 'Failure" with Rural America."  The full transcript is here.  Some of the more rural-related quotes follow (block quotes are from McCaskill and Rachel Martin is interviewing): 

I think this demand for purity, this looking down your nose at people who want to compromise, is a recipe for disaster for the Democrats. Will we ever get to a majority in the Senate again, much less to 60, if we do not have some moderates in our party? People want to say, oh, if you were just, you know, more single-payer, Claire, if you were just more to the left, well, a lot more people would have turned out to vote - wrong. Believe me. I know them all.

I love that McCaskill says, "I know them all" and I wonder who "all" is.  All the people in Missouri?  That would suggest quite the "lack of anonymity" associated with rural places.

 MARTIN: So then how does a self-described moderate Democrat win in Missouri?

I think a self-described Democrat can win in Missouri after the Trump era. I believe the pendulum will swing back. And we'll get back to the place where we can cut those margins in rural Missouri and do well in other parts of the state and still prevail statewide. I don't think this state is gone.

MARTIN:  Who's your best Republican friend in the Senate?

Susan Collins. It's not close.

MARTIN:  That friendship makes sense in that you are both in the middle. Is there someone who is more squarely on the conservative end of the spectrum?

I get along with everybody. You know, Rob Portman and I have worked well together. Pat Toomey and I have done some good work together. So I would say that, you know, there's just a handful. I mean, you know, I mean, I just think Tom Cotton's kind of rude. You know, he just is not very friendly. You know, Ted Cruz has gotten more friendly. You know, I think he's kind of figured out that trying to be the lonely pure soldier for the Tea Party didn't quite turn out the way he had hoped it would. And he has certainly been much more warm and friendly and funny. There's very few of them. You know, it's probably very rude of me to name names. But, you know, what the hell, right?

Interesting that the "rude" Tom Cotton is from her neighboring state of Arkansas.