The panel on MSNBC's "Meet the Press Daily" Thursday knocked the Democratic National Committee after former chairwoman Donna Brazile's revelations that the Democratic presidential primary was tilted toward Hillary Clinton.
NBC reporter Carol Lee mentioned current DNC chairman Tom Perez's unpopularity with many Democrats, notably those who support Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.). Host Chuck Todd asked Lee if Perez could survive the fallout of Brazile's revelations as he tries to lead the organization which already has major financial problems.
"That's a big question because Democrats have been increasingly unhappy with the way he's conducting himself in this job. There were really high expectations that he would unite the party and move it in a more youthful direction," Lee said. "He had Barack Obama behind him and they just haven't really seen that, and so is this the thing that gets the ball rolling for people to try to find a replacement before the midterms? It's possible."
Todd said both the DNC and the Republican National Committee seem like "hollowed-out shells of their former selves," but National Review senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru said that the DNC had a bigger problem.
"It's a bigger problem for the Democrats because they don't have the White House, which serves some of the functions that the party apparatus usually is," Ponnuru said. "Look, the Democrats are facing a lot of strife right now. I think it's going to get worse if they lose the Virginia governor's race next week."
"Oh my gosh, yeah," Todd said.
"There you've got a candidate who does not come from the Sanders wing of the party," Ponnuru added, referring to Democrats' Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam. "If [Northam] loses in a race when Democrats have spent most of the year thinking that they were going to do fine in that race, that's going to embolden the Sanders forces even more."
Former Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter also admitted that the DNC had made decisions in Hillary Clinton's favor.
"There were elements like the debate schedule and things like that that were tilted in Hillary's favor," Cutter said. "As Democrats, we have to figure this out. The difference between the Bernie Sanders wing of the party and everyone else is not that great."
She added that the Virginia race was important because Republican Ed Gillespie "is running to the depths of what Donald Trump did."
Todd mentioned that the news could depress progressive turnout for Northam, who is tied to the Democratic Party establishment.