| "...That basically scared the bejesus out of people and that hung on," -- Sen. Joe Manchin on the impact of rural voters being spooked by radical liberal messaging
Welcome to the "Face the Nation" Five at Five newsletter. Scroll down for your five takeaways from today's broadcast with moderator Margaret Brennan on CBS. Did someone forward you this? Sign-up at cbsnews.com/email. 1. Democrats' missed message for 2020: Progressive policies  As Democrats reckon with losing seats in the House of Representatives after predicting their majority in the upper chamber would grow this election, Louisiana Congressman Cedric Richmond, a Democrat, said Sunday that slogans such as "defund the police" ultimately hurt the party. What we asked: Do you agree that these messages that may actually have energized some progressive voters, some young voters, have ultimately hurt your party? Is there a reckoning that needs to happen among Democrats? What Richmond said: "When we can't pass legislation, we shouldn't be out there talking about it. And some titles hurt. Defunding the police is a title that hurts Democrats, and especially when the fact of the matter is nobody's calling for defunding the police. We're calling for reinventing how we police communities in this country, how we do criminal justice. So, I think that basically what the Whip is saying, and I agree with, is that words have consequences. And in this election, those words cost us some Democratic members." Why it matters: Richmond's comments come after days of contention in the fallout of the election. Some House members who narrowly won their districts have emphasized that messages like "defund the police," pushed by progressive lawmakers in the caucus, damaged their campaigns and cost vulnerable freshmen their seats. 2. To concede or not to concede, that is the question  Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey acknowledged Sunday that Joe Biden being named the projected winner of the 2020 election "is probably accurate" What we asked: Is it time for President Trump to concede? What Toomey said: "You know, 70 million Americans voted for Donald Trump and they and the president deserve to have this process play out. Now, I understand yesterday the media projected how this is going to end and the media projection is probably correct. But there is a reason that we actually do the count. And by the way, part of our process is to adjudicate disputes. It can include recounts. In fact, under Pennsylvania law, there's an automatic recount if the vote margin is half a percent. At the moment Joe Biden is leading in Pennsylvania by only six tenths of one percent. So, let's let this come to its proper conclusion and- and in the process, maximize the number of people who have confidence it was done properly." Why it matters: Toomey exercised caution on the election, saying that claims of "fraud" should be able to play out in the courts in his state, but said after which, "we'll be able to wrap this up and move on" 3. "We didn't have a very good message," Manchin says of Dems in 2020  West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, lamented how the positions pushed by the progressive wing of the party hurt his colleagues in the House and said Democrats allowed their Republican opponents to cast them as "socialists" even though "that's not who we are and it's not what we're about." What we asked: Why didn't the Democratic Party's message break through? What Manchin said: "Well, it was a- it wasn't a good message. I mean, we let them tag us before basically we could remind the people who we are, but we didn't have a good message." Why it matters: Manchin's comments come as Democrats controlled 232 House seats in the 116h Congress, and while they are likely to maintain a majority in the House, they will do so with fewer members. Control of the Senate, meanwhile, hangs in the balance as two races in Georgia are likely headed to runoff elections. 4. Gottlieb: No-go for inauguration during COVID-19  Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb predicted Sunday that by the time President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated in January, the nation will be at the apex of the latest wave of the coronavirus pandemic. What we asked: I wonder what you think about whether in January will even be able to have an inauguration with the usual celebrations. What Gottlieb said : "I don't think we will. I don't think we're going to be able to bring large crowds together for an inauguration, we're going to be right in the thick of probably the worst point of this epidemic wave that we're going through right now. And you know the- the Biden campaign, the Biden team, have shown that they're willing to forgo the usual trappings of running for office so that they don't expose people unnecessarily. I suspect they're going to take a similar approach to how they- how they handle the inauguration. I don't know what that's going to look like, but we're not going to be able to bring together tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people on the lawn in Washington for a typical inauguration." Why it matters: Coronavirus cases in the United States are surging in many states, with the number of infections nearing 10 million and the death toll at more than 237,000. In Wisconsin and Utah, officials are building field hospitals, while El Paso has built a fourth mobile morgue. With more than 56,000 people hospitalized and 11,000 in the ICU, Gottlieb predicted the nation will see a record number of hospitalizations this week. 5. Legal strategy or PR stunt? CBS News election law expert weighs-in  CBS News election law expert David Becker said Sunday that it's hard to determine a "coherent" strategy coming out of the Trump White House as a last ditch effort to save face after the election, suggesting campaign tactics appear to be a PR stunt instead. Watch more of Becker's analysis and have a look at his Twitter Q+A with Margaret Brennan here
 ICYMI: On rhetoric and leadership: Schieffer weighs-in Former "Face the Nation" moderator Bob Schieffer was welcomed back to the "Face" set to offer his insight on the 2020 race and the road ahead for president-elect Biden. See his analysis here | 
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