Who Leads The Democrats?

Day two after the crash and burn and you can already see the battle underway for the heart and soul of the Democratic party.

Of course the battle will be whether or not to take the party rightward to the center or go even further to the left.

The Deaniacs are not going to go slowly as this post in BlueOregon shows. Indeed, some of his fans are suggesting the Good Doctor himself for the party chairmanship.

At the same time, pundits and Democratic politicians alike are all over the map on where to steer the party, which probably hasn't been able to achieve what the Republicans have in definining a clear message.

I can relate to this. I ran for the Democratic nomination for President in 1972, because I saw that with candidates like George McGovern and later Jimmy Carter, I saw our party going away from our pro-middle class, anti-communist, pro-strong defense position that was a winner in the past.

Since then, we have won only three Presidential elections. Carter, in the aftermath of Watergate and the pubilc's disappointment in Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton - the most masterful politician of our time - who benefited from poor opponents and a popular third party candidate to take votes from the opposition.

There has not been a decisive Democratic victory since Lyndon Johnson, some forty years ago.