The Merlot Democrats

Apparently the Democrat base are now called the Merlot Democrats. (Merlot is produced primarily in France and California.)

Jacob Weisberg in Slate gives them some tips to draw in more apparently non-merlot-drinking voters:

But there remains a baseline mistrust of Democrats on security, the economy, and values issues. For a sweep big enough to recover both houses of Congress, the party will almost certainly need an affirmative message as well as a negative one. Democrats need to demonstrate they won't just cut and run from Iraq, that they see security as more than a civil liberties issue, and that their alternative to tax cuts isn't just more spending on flawed social programs and unchallenged growth in entitlements.

I don't think this description of their base, now that it's gotten out, will pull in too many converts.

The Democrats still strike me as a deeply silly party which hasn't improved with age, unlike a good merlot.