Top Dems to gather in city to formulate party strategy

State politicos join centrist council's leadership efforts

Stuart Steers, Rocky Mountain News

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Some of the most prominent Democrats in the country - including several possible presidential candidates - will gather in Denver this weekend to try and chart a winning strategy for the party.

The Democratic Leadership Council chose Denver for its annual "national conversation" meeting because it views Colorado and other western states as fertile ground for the party. In recent elections, the Democrats have made some of their biggest gains in the Mountain West.

Featured will be Sens. Hillary Clinton, of New York, and Evan Bayh, of Indiana; Govs. Bill Richardson, of New Mexico, and Janet Napolitano, of Arizona; and a bevy of local Democratic politicians, including Sen. Ken Salazar, Reps. Mark Udall and John Salazar and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

"For a long time, the DLC has been one of the few sources of intellectual energy in the party," said Colorado Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, a DLC member.

"We got very good at criticizing the other side, but we're not good at articulating an agenda of our own."

The group, which played a prominent role in promoting Bill Clinton's candidacy in 1992, has become known for its advocacy of centrist and business-friendly policies by Democrats.

Recently, the group has come under fire from the liberal wing of the party, posing a dilemma for politicians trying to unite Democrats.

The DLC is a favorite target of liberal Web-based activists, whose clout is growing because of their ability to raise millions for candidates on the Internet. They portray the DLC as timid and feckless, pushing policies that have led the Democrats to defeat.

"The DLC has preached a policy of appeasing big-money interests; that's why Democrats have lost election after election," said David Sirota, a leading liberal blogger who wants the party to embrace economic populism.

Within the party, the blog sites are known as the "netroots." They've played a big role in Ned Lamont's primary challenge to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, of Connecticut.

Lieberman is a longtime member of the DLC whose strong support for the war in Iraq has angered liberals, and he is trailing in the polls.

Many of the bloggers say the DLC's time has passed.

"They live every day as though it is still 1992," said Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, whose Dailykos.com site claims 20 million visitors per month.

"They are definitely a relic of a bygone era."

DLC backers say the policy differences between the two wings of the party are overblown, and it's more a question of style.

"They want us to shout in the face of George Bush," said Jim Gibson, who runs the DLC Colorado chapter.

"We think you need to oppose the administration, but it's more important to put out an alternative agenda."

Washington, D.C., political analyst Jennifer Duffy, of the Cook Report, says the bloggers have become an important power within the Democratic Party, but the DLC is still influential. She says such politicians as Hillary Clinton and Ken Salazar are trying to appeal to both groups.

"If you define influence by volume of sound, the liberal wing has it," said Duffy.

"But if you define it by association, the DLC has a pretty influential membership."

The DLC conference runs through Monday at the Hyatt Regency hotel and is not open to the public.