The biggest political lesson Democrats have to understand is that the November election was lost in the industrial Midwest because for decades Democrats failed to meet the real needs of working people.

That's the conclusion of a new paper from the Economic Policy Institute's Jeff Faux.

"The paper is about the contribution that the Democratic leadership's trade policies over the years have made to the disaster that happened in November. My conclusion is that the Democratic leadership has long ignored the real economic needs of working people in this country, especially in the industrial midwest."

Faux says free trade agreements supported by Democrats continually ate away at working class standards of living.

"The trade deals that have been done ever since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have just continually undercut the living standards, the jobs and the opportunities for a large part of the Democratic constituency.

You can get away with that for awhile. But sooner or later the chickens come home to roost and they came home to roost in November."

So did Democratic Party leaders get that message or do they think all they need to do is tweak their message next time to squeeze out more votes to win the Electoral College?

"That's absolutely right and that is the danger."