[AmishDude]

Peggy is grossly underestimating the trouble the Democrats are in right now. Their consituency groups consist of: Hollywood, trial lawyers, unions, blacks, other minorities, feminists, academia, campus activist types. (Forgive me if I've left one out.)

The first two provide mostly money and are further left than the rest -- this is a problem, the donor base must be appeased. Unions provide some money and labor for party activities. They also provide some votes, but a dwindling amount. If blacks even vote 70% Republican, the Democrats will never hold any house of Congress or the White House ever again. Other minorites, particularly Hispanics, lean much more Republican, in part thanks to the Bush brothers. Academia and the campus activist types are a small but vocal part of the party and represent the far left wing, but . . . they are going Green.

Therein lies the problem for the Democrats, if they go to the center, the Greens will peel off the left. The Democrats can't even call for expansion of the welfare state, because the Republican approach to pruning the welfare state is much more popular. Right now, the Democrats are left with one issue -- abortion. That's it. That's why most people who vote Democrat do so, these days. It will be interesting to see what happens with this party because abortion will not be enough for them and I don't see a future issue for them to grab onto.

[dano1]

this is a problem, the donor base must be appeased.

I completely agree about the fragmented donor base. But the problem isn't just that some Dems are further left than other Dems. It's that the core issues and pocketbook concerns of the sub-groups don't coincide. For example, no one but the trial lawyers really care about preserving the tort system. No one but the NEA really cares about preserving a "no fault" education system. No one but the labor unions want to restore gold-plated assembly jobs. No one but Hollywood cares about hawking vulgarity. Only the greens eschew SUVs. Only the African-americans are serious about reparations. Only the gays worry more about HIV than cancer. Abortion is a broader issue probably only because they all have babies. But no one really wants to pay more taxes, everyone wants to own stock, and the politicians have to accept corporate money to feed their addiction to high-priced campaigns. There may not really be political solutions to reconcile these competing interests, which may be why the democrats have to fall back on feints like the culture wars, the senseless class-bashing of millionare Hollywood liberals against middle-class working pubbies, and trying to evoke the ghost of the civil rights movement against the boy scouts. Maybe there isn't a solution. Maybe Republicans need to start thinking about how the GOP will survive in a post-DNC world, because if the DNC goes down the politcal landscape will change overnight, and the RNC might not be prepared to adapt to that. All it will take is one day for some charasmatic politician to see some daylight and go for it, and the two-party system will be history.