Democratic Party is growing more liberal

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/v-print/story/18692.html

Posted on Sun, Aug. 05, 2007
Democratic Party is growing more liberal
Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: August 05, 2007 10:00:57 AM

CHICAGO —


........For example, the top Democratic presidential candidates all planned to attend the YearlyKos convention of liberal bloggers in Chicago this weekend and a Human Rights Campaign debate this week in Los Angeles on gay, lesbian and transgender issues.

They all skipped an annual gathering of the Democratic Leadership Council last week in Nashville, Tenn. The DLC is the centrist group that pushed for welfare overhaul and a pro-business agenda in the 1990s, helped launch Bill Clinton to the presidency and stood by centrist Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., when liberals attacked him for supporting the Iraq war and he effectively was drummed out of the party in a primary last year.

"There is greater liberalism today, both on economic issues and in opposition to the war," said Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future, a liberal group that saw attendance at its June "Take Back America" meeting swell to several thousand from just a few dozen six years ago. "The conservative era is ending."

The Democrats' shift to the left carries some risk, but probably much less than it would have in years past. That's because independent voters — the ones who swing back and forth and thus decide elections — also have turned against the war and in favor of many more liberal approaches to government.

"There is greater support for the social safety net, more concern for inequality of income," said Andy Kohut, the president of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. "More people are falling into the liberal category based on their values."