DLC Shifts Behind The Scenes To Kerry Camp

[DrFunkenstein]

PHILADELPHIA. — The Democrats' presidential primary war between diehard liberal activists and pragmatic party centrists intensified this week at the Democratic Leadership Council's meeting here.

Democratic pollster Mark Penn, who polled for Bill Clinton, warned of a huge "security gap" among voters who trust President Bush and the GOP to do a better job than the Democrats to safeguard national security in the war on terrorism. "If Democrats can't close the security gap, then they can't be competitive in the next election," he said.

All of them warned that the party would lose next year's elections if it did not match the president's toughness on national defense.

The big unreported story at the DLC's meeting is that Mr. From is positioning his influential DLC network to back Mr. Dean's chief rival for the presidential nomination, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

Mr. Kerry voted for the congressional war resolution to send forces into Iraq, but he has also been sharply critical of Mr. Bush's failure to build a much stronger coalition for the war and for his handling of postwar operations.

Still, Mr. From points to Mr. Kerry's centrism on issues such as free trade, his support for welfare reform, and hints that school choice vouchers may be worth trying on an experimental basis.

"I think Kerry could be a very effective nominee. I think Kerry could run as a New Democrat ," Mr. From told me in an interview.

The DLC does not endorse candidates, but Will Marshall, who runs the DLC's Progressive Policy Institute, has been advising Mr. Kerry. And Al From's embrace of Mr. Kerry is the closest he has come to publicly backing a candidate. Notably, he mentioned no one else in the Democratic pack.

What worries Mr. From most is the party's weakness on defense in an age of terrorism. "The problem with is that we're not in the debate on national security," he said.

But grass-roots Democrats say the party's energy and anger right now is all on the antiwar, activist left which is fueling Mr. Dean's headlong drive for the nomination. The DLC had its day with Bill Clinton's skillful political use of centrist-leaning triangulation. Now, say Mr. Dean's supporters, "it's our turn."

---

Before you get your panties in a bunch, here is some info to show that Kerry is anything but a centrist, anything but a corporate hooker. The DLC comes to Kerry on policy, not the other way around.

Here is a link to a favorable DLC article about Kerry's progressive, corporate crime-fighting economic plan:

"Kerry's long-term growth plan focused on measures that simultaneously promote fiscal discipline while encouraging the right kind of economic activity. He called for the elimination of "offshore tax havens and shelters that enable corporations and executives to evade an estimated $70 billion in taxes each year," and also recommitted himself to the legislation (itself based on a Progressive Policy Institute proposal) he earlier offered with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to eliminate corporate subsidies in the tax code and the budget through a "base-closing commission" model.

Interestingly enough, Kerry called for elimination of a specific federal program -- the Fossil Energy Research and Development program that provides R&D for oil companies -- as part of an assault on corporate subsidies. Kerry is keeping the ball rolling in a new competition among leading Democrats to make hard choices about federal spending."

http://www.johnkerry.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6144&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=-1

---

At Project Vote Smart:

2002 According to the National Journal - Conservative on Economic Policy's calculations, in 2002, Senator Kerry voted more conservative on economic policy issues than 0 percent of the Senators.

2001 According to the National Journal - Conservative on Economic Policy's calculations, in 2001, Senator Kerry voted more conservative on economic policy issues than 0 percent of the Senators.


<>

http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=S0421103&PHPSESSID=6ffe9242b4363ab589fb36f5bae97f66#Nat.+Journal

2003 On the votes that the U.S. Public Interest Research Group considered to be the most important in 2003, Senator Kerry voted their preferred position 95 percent of the time.

2002 On the votes that the U.S. Public Interest Research Group considered to be the most important in 2002, Senator Kerry voted their preferred position 95 percent of the time.

2001 On the votes that the U.S. Public Interest Research Group considered to be the most important in 2001, Senator Kerry voted their preferred position 94 percent of the time.


---

Check out Kerry's record at the progressive Public Citizen (founded by Ralph Nader) - pick any year! Kerry is consistently listed in their "The Best" category. Use 02101 as a zipcode.

http://www.citizen.org/congress/voting/

---

Kerry takes heat for supporting free trade and NAFTA, but he worked hard to put real standards behind them - such as the 2002 Kerry amendment to Fast Track they described as:

"A modest reform that guaranteed much-needed changes in the NAFTA Chapter 11 investment model in future trade agreements.

Under the model, foreign investors may file a claim in secret NAFTA tribunals to seek compensation when government public interest regulations in any way diminish the value of their investment.

In doing so, the amendment would have instructed U.S. trade negotiators to ensure that future investor provisions do not grant foreign investors rights beyond what the U.S. Constitution provides.

http://action.citizen.org/pc/issues/votes/?votenum=121&chamber=S&congress=1072

---

Here he is in a tiny minority voting pro-consumer against Credit Card/Banking Industry's Bankruptcy "Reform."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0316-03.htm

---

His voting...

On the economy:

http://www.issues2000.org/Economic/John_Kerry_Budget_+_Economy.htm

On tax reform:

http://www.issues2000.org/Economic/John_Kerry_Tax_Reform.htm

On free trade:

http://www.issues2000.org/International/John_Kerry_Free_Trade.htm

On government reform:

http://www.issues2000.org/Economic/John_Kerry_Government_Reform.htm

---

His economic speech:

http://www.johnkerry.com/site/PageServer?pagename=spc_2002_1203