POLITICS Democrats in Congress gather in hopes of mounting comeback

The party is reeling from defeats and fractured by differing ideologies, but some members do see signs of hope.
By DAVID ENRICH
STATES NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- Stung by a series of demoralizing defeats in the midterm elections, congressional Democrats and their party leaders have spent the past month wondering what went wrong.
Now the party is turning to its future. Democratic lawmakers and governors will gather in Washington this week to map out legislative strategies and discuss how to halt the party's electoral skid.
By any measure, Democrats face an uphill struggle.
Taking on a strong Republican Party that is headed by a popular president would be a challenge under any circumstances. To make matters worse, a disproportionate number of Democratic senators are up for re-election in 2004, and new campaign funding rules could put the party at a financial disadvantage.
But the Democrats have another serious problem: Competing factions are trying to pull the party in opposite ideological and strategic directions.
Reaching consensus
Many Democrats worry that they will be unable to forge a consensus and that internal divisions will undermine efforts to enunciate a coherent and compelling party platform.
"I think it's going to be difficult," said Rep. Ted Strickland of Lucasville, whose reconfigured 6th Congressional District encompasses most of eastern Ohio. "I believe that if we have any hope at all of gaining a majority or winning the presidency, we've got to present a clear alternative to the American people. We didn't in this last election, and we lost."
Unlike the Republicans -- who have set aside disagreements on issues such as abortion, trade and civil liberties and cobbled together a cohesive majority -- the Democratic Party is fractured. In Congress, the fault lines are defined by three coalitions: the centrist New Democrats, the conservative Blue Dogs and the liberal Progressive Caucus.
Narrow defeats
Democrats are quick to point out that several party members lost their House, Senate and gubernatorial contests by narrow margins. They say the party's losses were because of unique political circumstances, not core Democratic problems or a national political realignment, as some Republicans gleefully suggest.
"The country is pretty evenly divided," said Rep. Sherrod Brown of Lorain, a member of the Progressive Caucus. "The elections were disappointing, obviously, but the country has certainly not given the Republicans a mandate -- not even close."
Getting out its message
Most Democrats also agree that in upcoming elections, the party will have to do a better job communicating its ideas to voters.
"The goal for this week is to really sharpen our message and make sure that people know there's a difference between the two parties," said Rep.-elect Tim Ryan of Niles. "I think whatever we decide to do, we need to do, and not be breaking off in different factions."
That won't be easy, however.
Ryan recommends a focus on the problems with recent free-trade agreements and President Bush's tax cuts. But a significant number of congressional Democrats voted for the tax cut, and the trade agreements were pushed through Congress by then-President Clinton and his Democratic allies.
To avoid alienating more conservative voters in southern and rural parts of the country, Ryan said, Democrats must avoid hot-button issues such as abortion and gay rights.
Referring to those issues as nonsense, he said Republicans would use them to "really try to divide us, and that's why we need to stay united on economic issues."
That viewpoint is likely to be anathema to the party's liberal wing and many traditional Democratic constituencies.
Liberal Democrats such as Brown and Progressive Caucus chairman Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland say universal health-care should be a top priority.
But while most Democrats agree that health-care reform is important, the party's centrists and fiscal conservatives are unlikely to embrace a costly federal plan.
In the House, incoming Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California faces the challenge of bridging the party's ideological gaps. That process starts Monday when House Democrats start a two-day strategy summit on Capitol Hill.
"I doubt if we're going to come out with any firmly consolidated policy positions, but I do think it's good that Nancy's calling us together to talk about how we should proceed into the future," Strickland said.
Democrats who supported Pelosi's election to minority leader say they doubt she will pull the party too far to the left.
There also is looming a more pressing national security issue: War with Iraq. The issue has split the Democratic Party. Twenty-three of the 50 Senate Democrats opposed a resolution in October authorizing the use of military force against Iraq. In the House, 126 of the 207 Democrats voted against it.