COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Democratic Leadership Council, an organization of influential party moderates, on Monday named Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to direct a new initiative to define a party agenda for the 2006 and 2008 elections.
The appointment solidified the identification of Clinton -- once considered a champion of the party's left -- with the centrist movement that helped propel her husband to the White House in 1992. It also continued her effort, which has accelerated in recent months, to present herself as a moderate on issues such as national security, immigration and abortion.
In her speech at the group's annual summer meeting, Clinton signaled a desire to retain her independence from any party faction. She called for a truce between the DLC and liberal elements of the party, which have engaged in a ferocious war of words over the Democrats' direction since President Bush won reelection last year.
"Now, I know the DLC has taken some shots from some within our party, and that it has returned fire too," she told the gathering in Columbus. "Well, I think it's high time for a cease-fire -- time for all Democrats to work together based on the fundamental values we all share."
The DLC has been struggling to maintain the influence in the party it wielded when Bill Clinton held the White House. Leading party centrists formed the DLC after President Reagan's landslide reelection in 1984 over Walter F. Mondale, who was allied with the most liberal Democratic interest groups.
Clinton assumed her role as head of the DLC's "American Dream Initiative" at a meeting that drew three other centrist Democrats considered possible 2008 contenders and highlighted the maneuvering already underway for the next presidential race.
Besides Clinton, about 500 elected officials and DLC supporters heard from Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), the group's outgoing chairman; Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who replaced Bayh this month; and Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner.
The session amounted to one of the first multi-candidate "cattle calls" for potential 2008 contenders. "I thought I was at a New Hampshire J-J dinner," joked Warner, in a reference to the Jefferson-Jackson Day party dinners that are frequent platforms for Democratic presidential contenders.
Each of the potential candidates delivered campaign-style speeches that blended criticism of the Bush administration with calls for Democrats to pursue centrist policies on issues such as national defense, energy and the federal budget.
