WASHINGTON — The truce appears to be expiring among Democrats in Washington.
In the immediate aftermath of Sen. John F. Kerry's loss to President Bush in November, Democrats notably avoided the postelection squabbling that's consumed the party after almost all recent presidential races -- even those it won.
But as the new year begins, a series of high-profile articles in leading liberal journals is suddenly reopening old divisions.
On one front, a liberal operative at a top think tank has accused the Democratic Leadership Council, the principal organization of party centrists, of pushing the party toward a pro-corporate agenda "that sells out America's working class -- the demographic that used to be the party's base."
In equally combative terms, a leading young centrist commentator published a manifesto in the New Republic magazine accusing the Democratic left of slighting the struggle against Islamic terrorism and undermining the party's image on security -- an argument instantly embraced and promoted by the Democratic Leadership Council.
In the near-term, the Democratic desire to unify in opposition to almost all of Bush's agenda is likely to take the edge off these disagreements.
But these twin firefights, which have inspired volleys of responses, Web postings and e-mails, reflect enduring divisions over strategy, message and policy that could influence the race for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee next month and are certain to loom over the contest for the presidential nomination in 2008.
"There is a big fight about the direction of the Democratic Party still going on, and these are big documents in that fight," says Robert Borosage, co-director of the liberal Campaign for America's Future.
For Democrats struggling to recover after an election that saw Bush reelected and Republicans gain greater control of the House and Senate, these two disputes highlight the most basic choices facing the party on domestic and foreign issues.
These disputes follow an election in which the party largely avoided factional discord. Although former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's bid for the nomination divided liberals and centrists early in 2004, the burning desire to oust Bush united them behind Kerry during the general election.
"We were all working for the same causes," said Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, the think tank affiliated with the Democratic Leadership Council.
