Still reeling, Democrats begin battling for future

WASHINGTON (AP) — Still reeling from a devastating defeat in last week's election, Democrats are beginning the process of charting the direction of their party in the Donald Trump era.

While they all backed Clinton, they're now pushing for a serious shift in the party's policy positions, financial resources and grassroots organizing to focus more on motivating their base and winning back the white working class voters who went for Trump.

Democrats are focused too much with a liberal elite, which is raising incredible sums of money from wealthy people," Sanders said on CBS's "Face the Nation.

After losing the White House and Congress — and likely the ideological tilt of the Supreme Court — the Democrats' new chief likely will be one of the party's most visible faces in politics, making the role a far more influential post than it was during the Obama administration.

In interviews on Sunday talk shows, Ellison pushed back on concerns that he'd be unable to balance party responsibilities with the politics of his day job in Congress — a problem some Democrats believe hampered Wasserman Schultz.

Others are pushing for a Latino leader, arguing that the growing demographic group is crucial to the party's future and should be represented at the highest levels of its leadership.