Permanent Minority. At the very moment that more and more Democrats seem to be finding their voice on Iraq and on core economic issues, the Democratic Leadership Council issued a memo telling Democrats to behave more like Republicans. DLC CEO Al From and DLC pollster Mark Penn claimed, "America remains a moderate to conservative country--particularly on economic and security issues." They then proceeded to ignore consistent hard data showing exactly the opposite: that Americans support universal healthcare, a higher minimum wage, a re-evaluation of America's corporate-written trade policy and an exit strategy for US troops in Iraq.

Toward the Majority. Senator Russell Feingold, once chastised for being the only senator courageous enough to vote against the original Patriot Act, has forged a large bipartisan coalition of senators to demand that the Bush Administration revise the law to better protect Americans' civil liberties.

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