Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major parties in the United States. The party is currently the minority party in the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, and among state governors. The party also trails in state legislatures as the Republican Party controls 21 legislatures and Democrats control 19. Ten states are divided legislatures. Of the two major U.S. parties, the Democratic Party is to the left of the Republican Party, though its politics are not as consistently leftist as the traditional social democratic and labor parties in much of the rest of the world.

Factions of the Democratic Party

It should be noted that defining the views of any "faction" of any political party, especially a major political party in the United States, is difficult at best, and that any attempt to apply labels within a single political party is no more effective than the application of broad labels to political parties as a whole. Keeping that in mind, there are several ideological groups widely recognized within the modern-day Democratic Party:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• The New Democrats - A grouping of centrists, formally organized as the Democratic Leadership Council. The organization became particularly prominent during and after Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign. The group was founded and continues to be led by Al From. Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa is the current chairman.
• The Blue Dog Democrats - A congressional caucus of fiscal and social conservatives and moderates, primarily southerners, willing to broker compromises with the Republican leadership. They have acted as a unified voting bloc in the past, giving its thirty members some ability to change legislation. The name appears to be both a reference to several well-known Louisiana paintings featuring blue dogs, as well as a reference to the old "yellow dog" Democrats having been "choked blue." Oddly, blue is the color chosen by the media to represent Democrats.
• Deaniacs (supporters of Howard Dean) - Howard Dean, a failed candidate for the party's 2004 presidential nomination, currently serves as chairman of the Democratic National Committee and is a leading opponent of the New Democrats group. His campaign organization, "Dean for America," became a new group, Democracy for America, which advocates progressive policies. Many Deaniacs became politically active and contributed financially to other progressive candidates because of Gov. Dean's internet campaign.
• The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) - An influential non-profit organization that advocates centrist positions for the party. Moderate party leaders founded the DLC in response to the landslide victory of Republican candidate Ronald Reagan over Democratic candidate Walter Mondale during the 1984 presidential election. The founders believed the Democratic Party needed to reform their political philosophy if they were to ever retake the White House, a goal which had eluded the Democrats since the 1976 election of Jimmy Carter. The DLC hails President Bill Clinton as proof of the viability of third way politicians and a DLC success story. Critics contend that the DLC is effectively a powerful, corporate-financed mouthpiece within the Democratic Party that acts to keep Democratic Party candidates and platforms sympathetic to corporate interests and the interests of the wealthy.
• 21st Century Democrats - A political organization active since 2000 in assisting candidates it describes as "progressive" or "populist" in winning elections. Its strategy puts emphasis on training large numbers of organizers to work at the grassroots level. It targets specific campaigns it sees as important. It has strong ties to veterans of Senator Paul Wellstone's campaigns.
• Congressional Progressive Caucus - The CPC is a caucus of progressive Democrats, along with one independent, in the U.S. Congress. It is the single largest Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives, although it currently has no members from the Senate. Well-known members include Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-TX), and Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).The CPC advocates universal health care, fair trade agreements, living wage laws, the right of all workers to organize into trade unions and engage in strike actions and collective bargaining, the abolition of significant portions of the USA PATRIOT Act, the formation of a Department of Peace, the legalization of gay marriage, strict campaign finance reform laws, a complete pullout from the war in Iraq, a crackdown on corporate crime and what they see as corporate welfare, an increase in income tax on the wealthy, tax cuts for the poor, and an increase in welfare spending by the federal government. http://bernie.house.gov/pc/issues.asp http://www.house.gov/lee/CongressionalProgressiveCaucus/
• Progressive Democrats of America - The supporters of Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign also started an organization to press their ideas after the election, although it is not restricted to Kucinich supporters.
• Southern Democrats - Socially conservative, southern, white Democrats, previously a key element in the Democratic coalition, are increasingly rare, many having lost, or opting not to run, in the 1994, 2002, and 2004 elections. Senator Zell Miller, a Democrat from Georgia, actually spoke in favor of President George W. Bush at the 2004 Republican National Convention.
• Organized Labor - As a key source of political contributions, volunteers, and field organizing expertise, labor unions hold significant sway in the Democratic Party. Former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt was a leading supporter of labor in Congress.
• African Americans - This group votes consistently for Democratic Party candidates in the 85 to 90% range, and as such can be considered a faction in the party. Democratic African American leadership coalesces around the Congressional Black Caucus and civil rights activists and is generally considered liberal in outlook. Senator Barack Obama, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Congressman John Conyers are prominent leaders of this faction.
• Civil libertarians often support the Democratic Party because its positions on such issues as civil rights and separation of church and state are more closely aligned to their own than are the positions of the Republican Party, and because the Democrats' economic agenda may be more appealing to them than that of the Libertarian Party. They oppose the "War on Drugs," protectionism, corporate welfare, immigration restrictions, governmental borrowing, and an interventionist foreign policy. The Democratic Freedom Caucus is an example of this faction.