Democratic Candidates Skewer Bush in Appeal to Black Voters

Speaking at the annual gathering of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Democrats received great applause when lambasting President Bush on nearly every front -- from his opposition to affirmative action policies at the University of Michigan to his "go-it-alone" foreign policy style to the thus far fruitless search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

With a Supreme Court decision on the affirmative action case expected this week, several of the office-seekers praised the university's policy. A fiery Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio led the way by pledging that as president, he would pen executive orders to "enshrine" affirmative action -- not only in higher education but in housing and other areas as well.

"We deserve a president of the United States who doesn't call fairness to minorities a special preference," added Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry.

Kucinich helped set the anti-Bush tone for the afternoon by blending together his many criticisms of the current administration.

"There weren't any weapons of mass destruction. We knew and we know the war was a fraud," he said. "I've been a mayor [of Cleveland] and I understand where the weapons are, Mr. Bush. You come to urban America -- we'll show you weapons of mass destruction. Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction. Homelessness is a weapon of mass destruction

Of Bush's handling of North Korea and its nuclear program, Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri said, "This is breathtaking ineptitude."

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Divisions Within Party

A fissure in the party has deepened in recent months between Clinton-style Democrats who insist that centrism is the way to the White House in 2004, and those who contend that moderates have cost the party support from its traditional liberal bases -- including labor unions, minorities and the working class.

During most of the gathering before an overwhelmingly African American audience of 400, the divide all but vanished.

Although Jackson has seen his influence within the Democratic Party diminish in recent years, he arguably is still the nation's preeminent African American leader. And the seven candidates at the forum -- including the moderates -- all delivered messages tailored to the left-leaning audience.