Left Side Of US Politics Uniting

Liberals -- out of power, beleaguered by talk radio, outmaneuvered by conservative activists and hemmed in by new campaign finance rules -- are busily trying to build a new political infrastructure.

Liberals draw their energy this time from a wellspring of anger -- anger that started during the Clinton impeachment proceedings of 1998, spread with the contested 2000 election between Al Gore and George Bush, and exploded with the Iraq war and Bush's environmental and economic policies.

"I think of it as liberals getting sand kicked in their face for years, like the old Charles Atlas ad," said David Talbot, chief executive of the liberal San Francisco online publication Salon. "They were too wimpy, disorganized and demoralized to respond. Finally, I think enough was enough. Their anger started to boil over, and they've been pumping iron and are now able to fight back.''

"Because the left is so united in their feelings about Bush, there's a spirit of cooperation and communication and self-sacrifice we haven't seen on the left probably ever," said Jordan, of the liberal groups America Votes and America Coming Together.

"Why did this all happen now?" asked Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club in San Francisco and a board member of America Coming Together. "I have a two-word response: George W. Bush."