FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2008 file photo, Rep. John Yarmuth D-Ky. speaks in Louisville, Ky. Congressional Democrats are on a retreat in more ways than one this week. As Democratic lawmakers gather in Baltimore to talk strategy and lick election wounds, their party faces diminished powers in Congress, GOP dominance in the states, and a shrinking pool of potential candidates for future elections. The picture is especially bleak in the South, where some Democrats hope courts will overturn GOP-controlled “gerrymandering” of congressional and state legislative districts. Elsewhere, Democrats in swing states say their party must get better at highlighting the improved economy and the surge in energy production under President Obama. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)