Democrats Weigh Risks of Caution
WASHINGTON — Are the Democrats ready for their close-up?
With President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress facing bleak approval ratings, many Democrats are increasingly confident that the public is ready to hear the party's alternative policy ideas as the 2006 campaign heats up.
The question is whether the Democrats have an alternative ready to present.
Party leaders have provided some specifics about how they would deal with national security, energy issues and ethics reform if they recapture one or both chambers of Congress in November. But on many topics, they have provided only broad hints about their direction.
This cautious strategy is generating intensifying debate within the party.
On one side are those who believe the Democrats must present a sharp alternative to Bush's direction -- as Republicans did with their "Contract with America" before sweeping into control of Congress in 1994.
"It is a time to move toward offense and toward talking about the big things that we stand for," said Eli Pariser, executive director of the political action committee associated with liberal MoveOn.org.
On the other side are strategists who fear that offering too many specifics could allow Republicans to shift focus away from public discontent with how they have governed. Those sentiments appear especially strong among Senate Democrats.
"If you start to [discuss] big government programs
But attempts to minimize the target for Republicans could leave Democrats vulnerable in a different respect. A continued reluctance to detail an agenda, some party strategists say, could allow the Republicans room to define for voters what the priorities of the Democrats are.
Indeed, the Republican National Committee has delivered 18 news releases charging that "the Real Democratic Agenda" amounts to large tax increases, a policy of "cut and run" in Iraq and the impeachment of the president.
Each side in the internal Democratic argument can point to polls supporting its position.
Those who prefer less detail note that as confidence in the Republican Congress has declined, almost all surveys show Democrats leading the GOP when the public is asked which party it trusts to handle the nation's major problems.
