WASHINGTON — Worried that Democrats have failed to adequately define an alternative to President Bush, the political arm of the centrist "New Democratic" movement today will release a broad agenda aimed at steering the party toward the political middle.
The New Democrat Network -- a group that funds centrist Democratic candidates -- also will release a poll showing that many of former President Clinton's gains in moderating the party's image have eroded.
The release of the poll and the agenda at a Washington conference hosted by the network could mark an escalation in the growing ideological conflict among Democrats. The early stages of the race for the party's 2004 presidential nomination have reopened divisions between liberal and centrist Democrats that Clinton largely suppressed after his first term.
The Campaign for America's Future, a liberal group, drew nearly 2,000 activists to Washington this month for a conference that urged Democrats to return to liberal priorities. These include universal health-care coverage, more investment in cities and opposition to Bush's foreign and defense policies.
The New Democrat Network's agenda urges the party to stress balancing the federal budget, strengthening the military and expanding free trade -- all causes resisted by many on the left.
"We have clearly not come up with a set of agenda points and a governing agenda that is better than what Bush is offering right now, and we are kidding ourselves if we think we have," said Simon Rosenberg, the network's president.
Founded in 1996, the group has put much of its effort into raising money through its political action committee for Democrats sympathetic to Clinton's efforts to move the party toward the center. The group raised about $6.8 million in the 2002 election. Most of those it has helped are active in the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist group Clinton once headed.
With today's conference, the network will launch an effort to expand its role into shaping the Democratic message and campaign strategy.
"Republicans have invested in building a much more serious infrastructure than we have on our side," Rosenberg said. "Democrats need to have a strategic plan that creates a long-term answer to the conservative challenge."
As part of its new approach, Rosenberg said the group will establish an "advocacy fund" to reach the public directly through media advertising.
