"We don't need a second Republican Party"

Salon on The "Take Back America" Conference -- "Those folks in the Democratic Leadership Council are wrong," thundered Dean, Vermont's governor. "The way to get elected in this country is not to be like the Republicans. It's to stand up against them and fight … We're going to put our flag in the middle of where America ought to be and bring people to us." It was a message echoed by the more mainstream Massachusetts senator, Kerry, who said, "One thing we don't need is a second Republican Party."

"Some of this is very much a reaction to the 2002 election, where our strategists made the tragic mistake of not taking on Bush on the tax cut and on the war," said Paul Begala, a former Clinton strategist and Crossfire co-host. "That's not what a leader does. It's what a busboy does."