As a disappointing Election '02 winds down with nary a hanging chad in sight, Democrats have few obvious villains to blame for their fall fade-out. Instead, party factions are girding for a familiar ritual: the morning-after round of back-biting and recriminations. Some of the loudest complaints emanate from the party's left, where advocates of unapologetic government activism believe the main reason Democratic candidates failed to fire up core voters on Nov. 5 was the party's embrace of warmed-over Bushism. Their prescription: a damn-the-deficit stimulus plan that commits a flood of federal dollars to fighting economic stagnation―most targeted at the working class.
展开▼
