The gathering here in Ohio, one of the most-contested states in last year's election, offered a glimpse of what may be the line of attack that Democrats will employ against Republicans between now and 2008.
Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia said, "Today's Washington fiscal conservative is someone who thinks that deficits can go on forever and that you can make the cost of the war go away simply by moving them off the balance sheet."
Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana accused the Bush administration of "false bravado" and "incompetence" in the way it handled the war in Iraq and its aftermath. "It's obvious that they had no plan for winning the peace," Mr. Bayh said.
Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa criticized the administration as "not sharing with us the true reasons for going to war or the true price we would have to pay to continue the war."
But for all the criticism directed at Mr. Bush and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill, some of the prospective presidential contenders warned that Democrats had to offer the public more than criticism of the Republican Party if they hoped to begin winning again.
"We can't afford to be anti-, against everything," Mr. Vilsack said. "America is waiting for us. They are desperate to know what we are for."
Republicans immediately fired back at the criticisms, mocking the council for reaching out to Mrs. Clinton, whom conservatives have long derided as a symbol of liberal excess.
"The fact that the centrist organization of the Democrat Party would anoint Hillary Clinton anything, exemplifies just how far left the Democrats have gone," said Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee.
"There is nothing centrist about Senator Clinton's liberal record," Ms. Schmitt said in a statement.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/26/politics/26candidates.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1122503456-06tCpk59iB5Q8MOOt6+i2QEvan Bayh, generally considered a national security hawk, offered a truly acidic critique of the administration's handling of the war on terror, concluding: "That's not strength, that's incompetence."
Tom Vilsack systematically decimated the GOP's fidelity to values, especially that of community. Hillary Clinton squarely accused Republicans of trying to return the country to the policies and political practices of the 19th century. And Mark Warner scorned the Bushies for choosing to intervene in the medical decisions of the Schiavo family while choosing to do nothing about the 45 million Americans without health insurance.
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