Hopeful Liberals See Signs Of a Political Comeback - WSJ

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As Bush's Ratings Decline, Left Draws Money, Support; A Victory in South Dakota

By JOHN HARWOOD
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 3, 2004; Page A1

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On the defensive for more than a generation, the American left is seeing signs of political revival. Recent polls show more Americans are calling themselves "liberal" -- a term that had been considered something of an epithet -- and fewer are identifying themselves as "conservative." Liberal groups, from the National Organization for Women to Moveon.org, are enjoying a big fund-raising surge. The flagship publication of the left, the Nation, claims to have captured the highest circulation of any weekly political magazine.

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Some liberal activists acknowledge that Republicans could very well repeat earlier electoral successes by using cultural issues such as gay marriage to win support from working-class voters who agree with upscale Democrats on economic matters. And even if Democrats win the White House and Capitol Hill this time, there's no guarantee liberals would fare better with a President Kerry than they did under President Bill Clinton, a centrist Democrat who clashed with his party's left over trade expansion, welfare overhaul and budget balancing.

Some liberals implicitly acknowledge a continuing image problem by embracing the word "progressive" to describe their goals. Sen. Kerry, while courting liberals, has kept his distance from the term, discounting the meaning of political labels. Though the definition of "liberal" varies from issue to issue, today's liberals generally favor higher taxes and government spending to pursue public goals more than centrist Democrats, push for more aggressive remedies to perceived social injustices and voice greater skepticism about military spending and the use of U.S. military force overseas.

Liberals enjoyed many Great Society triumphs under President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s. But they increasingly came to be viewed by the party's political strategists as liabilities whose policies on crime, welfare, foreign policy and taxes were at odds with the views of swing voters needed to win presidential elections. In the Reagan era, the term was such an epithet that 1988 Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis sought to redefine the election as being about "competence," not ideology. "New Democrats" like Mr. Clinton cultivated a more business-friendly centrism.

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In recent years, Republicans have held a big lead among white male voters. But changing demography has reduced the clout of white men and swelled the importance of Hispanics who lean against Republicans. That shift, along with changing mores that favor cultural tolerance, led authors John Judis and Ruy Teixeira two years ago to write "The Emerging Democratic Majority."

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Write to John Harwood at [e-mail]

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