"New Democrats" Dissing Dean

"It is a shame that the DLC is trying to divide the party along these lines," said Dean spokesman Joe Trippi. "Governor Dean's record as a centrist on health care and balancing the budget speaks for itself."

As founder of the DLC, From has been pushing the Democratic Party to the right for nearly 20 years. He was in tall cotton, philosophically speaking, when an early leader of the DLC, Bill Clinton, was elected president in 1992. As Clinton's domestic policy guru, Reed pushed New Democrat ideas -- such as welfare reform -- that were often unpopular with party liberals.

The memo took a milder shot at Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) for his proposal to guarantee universal health insurance coverage, which From and Reed deemed far too costly. "Every primary season unleashes the pander virus," they wrote.

Gephardt spokesman Erik Smith said the criticism is a good sign. Gephardt's plan "has been attacked from the left and from the right. We must be onto something."

Two DLCers running for president -- Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) and Bob Graham (Fla.) -- attended a dinner for participants in the strategy session last night at Warner's home in Alexandria.

More Washington Post - Democrats Criticize President on Economy, Security

"Fight the enemy and not each other," the Democratic presidential candidates were told here today, and they took the advice. For almost three hours, the Democrats appealed to an audience of union members with relentless attacks on President Bush and barely a raised eyebrow toward one another.

Nearly 1,000 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) assembled to question candidates eager for the union's support. Before any of the presidential aspirants could utter a word, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee set the tone with a condemnation of the president punctuated with a declaration -- "He's got to go!" -- that brought the audience to its feet chanting, "Gotta go, gotta go," in unison.

"What this administration has done," said Graham, former chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, "is they have conducted an ideological war in Iraq where they have not found the weapons of mass destruction upon which it was predicated. And at the same time, they have stopped the war on terrorism. . . . We have let al Qaeda off the hook. . . . We let them regenerate."

Gephardt said the administration had left the country "vulnerable to future attacks" by failing to provide money and training for local fire and police departments, while Sharpton accused the Republicans of using members of the New York fire and police departments for photo opportunities and closing firehouses for lack of funds.

"It's a political fraud that needs to be exposed," he said.

Edwards said, "We should not cede this issue to a party and a president whose idea of homeland security is plastic wrap and duct tape."

Dean said his record in Vermont of expanding health care coverage provided a working model for the country. Kucinich, the only Democrat promoting a government-run health care plan, said it was time to put private insurers out of business. "I think it is urgent that we take the profit out of health care," he said.

"If we worry so much about electability that they can't tell the difference between the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party and the Republicans, then we're going to be in a lot of trouble in this party," Dean said. "We need to win this election by standing up for who we are and speaking our piece."


Jeffords Denounces DLC Attack on Dean

Sen. James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.) is complaining about extremism and divisiveness again.

But this time, the senator, who famously fled a Republican Party he considered intolerant, is training his sights on the Democrats -- specifically, the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist group within the party.

The DLC recently criticized Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean as an elitist liberal, a member of the party's "McGovern-Mondale" wing," which "lost 49 states in two elections and transformed Democrats from a strong national party into a much weaker regional one."

That prompted Jeffords to issue a statement backing Dean, a fellow Vermonter, that sounded strangely familiar.

"I am disappointed to see leaders of the Democratic Leadership Council characterize his positions as extreme and elitist, and I call on them to stop their divisive tactics," Jeffords said. "I have heard such charges coming from Republicans most of my political life, but I find it incredible to hear such charges coming from Democrats."