SFChron: Feinstein to Demos: Time to get tough

"We haven't done near enough of a job tagging the Republicans," the senior senator from California said this past week while back home in San Francisco.

As a result, President Bush "was very much able to obfuscate on the whole issue of the economy with his pre-election push for national security issues," Feinstein said.

Now, she said, the time has come for the Democrats to step back up to the plate.

"We need to be the party that stands for a free, fair and open marketplace. We should be the ones who say if he doesn't appoint strong and full advocates for the commissions that oversee the marketplace, then we should filibuster and kill any appointments until he does."

California Democrats are urging her to throw her hat into the ring.