Democratic leaders lay out vision for success in 2008 election

[kurth]

Democratic leaders lay out vision for success in 2008 election
By Phil Yost, Mercury News

DENVER - Concentrating on the concerns of the middle class -- college, health care, retirement -- is the ticket for Democrats to regain control of Congress and the White House, Sen. Hillary Clinton told a national gathering of moderate Democrats on Monday. Clinton was the star in a lineup of prominent centrist Democrats who rolled out the ``American Dream Initiative'' of the Democratic Leadership Council to 700 civic activists and elected officials at its annual national convention in Denver. The council, established in 1985, is best known as the incubator for the presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. Sen. Clinton said the DLC's initiative can ``unite Democrats and elect Democrats.'' Its main elements include:

College -- A $3,000 refundable tax credit for college tuition; federal grants to enable and require states to keep tuition low, and improve their graduation rates.

Retirement -- Require employers to provide a plan to all workers; the plan must be portable from job to job.

Health care -- Create an insurance pool for all small businesses; extend health care to all children...

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/15112584.htm

[madfloridian]

1. They are a think tank, should not call themselves Democratic leaders.

That is very misleading, and I will call them on it every time it happens.

The DLC is a group formed to rid Democrats of dependence on interest groups like minorities and labor unions.

They are trying to act like they are the party leaders, when actually the party leaders are the DNC chair, the DSCC, the DCCC, and the congressmen and women.

They had some leaders in attendance, but they are not Democratic Party leaders.

Misleading.

[RestoreGore]

2. Well...

No mention of election integrity kind of makes this all moot to me. Especially coming from a faction of the Democratic Party that has done nothing but enable Bush for six years.

[madfloridian]

4. They are not a faction of the party, though they pretend to be.

They are a think tank. A 501 that does not have to disclose where their funding comes from or goes. Convenient for them.

[peacebird]

3. another link here at DU on this from earlier.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2409688&mesg_id=2409688

[panader0]

5. On Hillary: OK she's a Dem, but she should Not Be the spokesperson

for the party. Or the candidate. Half of the dems don't want her, (Although, I would vote for her if she were the candidate, I just hope she's not,) Yeah, the Dems need a vision, a plan that gives us the high ground, and a plan that's easy to understand, even by construction guys like me. (Don't worry, I do my homework) But the common voter does not read the background and are swayed by bullshit slogans or bullshit statistics, I can only hope a real, heartfelt Dem emerges from the pack to end the madness. There has been so much damage done in the last 6 years it's going to be hard to get back to where Bill Clinton left us.