Democratic Party

As he is quick to point out, President Obama is presiding over two wars, a sour economy and an epic fight to rework the nation's healthcare system. Now tack on a trio of state and local political races. With an off-year election fast approaching, Obama is stepping up his commitment to Democratic candidates in hopes that an infusion of campaign charisma might pump up turnout. What the party is finding, though, is that the electricity of 2008 is tough to recapture. Some Democratic candidates running for local office around the country call the phenomenon the "Obama Hangover."

Re "The 'Democrat majority' is still the talk of the town," Jan. 30 Only "Republicons" refer to the Democratic Party as the "Democrat" Party. These are the hard-right-wing party hacks who do not have the courtesy to refer to a major American political party by its correct name -- the Democratic Party. When President Bush stoops to that sophomoric level, he comes across as just one more "Republicon." GENE BURKARD San Diego I don't like "democratic" as an adjective when describing the Democrat Party because it infers that the Republican Party isn't democratic.

The letter (Nov. 11) by Patricia A. Gazin criticizing the Democratic Party for involvement in the Hermosa Beach municipal election ignored the fact that political parties, as well as other groups, have a right to offer and work for candidates in a nonpartisan race. Her vague and broad complaint was an insult not only to the Democratic Party but to the democratic process. Both the Democratic and Republican parties worked for a candidate in the Hermosa Beach campaign. This is not "meddling"; it's part of the American democratic tradition.

A moderate assemblyman cut ties with the Democratic Party on Tuesday and became an independent, a move that could throw an unexpected curve into the state's budget fight. Fresno Assemblyman Juan Arambula, who has frequently clashed with Democratic leaders, re-registered as decline-to-state.

So Rosa Brooks has joined the bandwagon in deciding the reason Americans got stuck with President Bush for a second term is because the dastardly Democratic Party and, specifically, Sen. John Kerry, didn't come up with a sufficiently catchy slogan (Opinion, March 10). There was absolutely nothing wrong with Kerry as a presidential candidate in terms of a message, diplomatic skills, fiscal responsibility, understanding issues or military credentials. The only reason we're stuck with Bush today is because there were just enough Americans who wanted to follow Bush down the path he has taken us. Much as we may now wish for world history to go easy on us by understanding how the "other guy" just didn't have the right slogan, history is not going to blame Kerry or the Democratic Party for what we have done to ourselves and the rest of the world.

I must take exception to Cardinal Roger Mahony's criticism of the Democratic Party for not being sensitive to the plight of the unfortunate (March 2). It has been President Clinton who vetoed legislation passed by the Republican majority weakening or destroying welfare and Medicaid. It is the Republican governor of California along with the likes of my GOP Assemblyman Tom Bordonaro (Paso Robles) who wants to make permanent the cuts in state welfare benefits. As a Catholic of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, I have been proud of the National Catholic Bishops stand on social issues but I think that for decades the Catholic hierarchy has been predisposed to the Republicans.

The chairman of the state's Democratic Party, which was battered in the November elections, said he will step down. Dick Harpootlian will step aside May 3, the day his party holds the first debate among candidates for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. In November, South Carolina Democrats lost all but two statewide races, including those for governor and U.S. senator. The state is getting early attention from candidates because its Feb. 3, 2004, primary will be the first in the

Two-term Democratic Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. of Virginia announced that he would seek reelection as an independent, a move that could complicate his old party's hopes of retaking control of the House. Goode's habit of voting consistently against President Clinton and with other House Republicans had already created friction with some Democratic leaders in his district.

"A Loyal Constituency Is Restless" (Opinion, Jan. 6), dealing with the Catholics of California, could not have been more on the mark. Those in the Democratic Party have become so dogmatic when it comes to their radical social agenda that it boggles the mind that any self-aware Catholic could support them today. After achieving complete power in 1998, it was only a matter of time before, once again, they ran home to their far-left universe, thereby successfully alienating the populace.

This letter is in response to "Kennedy Urges Democrats to Fight for Party's Beliefs" (Jan. 12), in which Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) is quoted as stating that the Democratic Party has "failed to demonstrate that its values and beliefs included a commitment to 'family, community and love of country.' " Kennedy is correct that the Democrats have not focused on this flag-waving propaganda as the Republicans have in the past. The irony is that the Republicans have no business claiming these beliefs either, according to their "contract with America."