Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States, along with the U.S. Republican Party. Since 1966, it has elected Jimmy Carter president in 1976, and Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. It lost the other presidential contests. The Democratic Party lost control of both houses of Congress in the mid-term elections of 1994, and regained them in the mid-term elections of 2006.

For the past see U.S. Democratic Party, history

for current development see 2008 United States presidential election

In 2007 the new Democratic majority named Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, the first women to hold that position. Nevada Senator Harry Reid became Senate Majority Leader. The Democrats were unable to impede the Iraq war, and passed little significant legislation in 2007, apart from an increase in the minimum wage. Their most important bill, SCHIP to provide health insurance for children, was vetoed.

The race for the 2008 presidential nomination began much earlier than usual. New York Senator Hillary Clinton held a commanding lead in polls until early 2008, but is even in fundraising with her chief competitor Senator Barak Obama; both raised over $100 million in 2007, easily breaking the old record. Obama won the Iowa caucus (on Jan. 3, 2008) and Clinton won the New Hampshire primary (on Jan 8. 2008); they will take momentum into "Tsunami Tuesday", Feb. 5, when half the delegates will be chosen for the national convention, which meets in Denver, Aug. 25-28, 2008. The Democratic nominee will face the Republican nominee; it is also possible that billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be a third party candidate.

Clinton is the first woman to lead a presidential race; Obama is the first prominent black contender since Jesse Jackson in 1988, but the African American community is split on his candidacy. Many blacks prefer Clinton because of their admiration for her husband Bill Clinton, or because of fears Obama will be assassinated.

With the GOP in disarray and President George W. Bush unpopular outside his party, the Democrats have been leading in the polls and have outperformed the GOP in fundraising by a 2-1 ratio in 2007. Democrats expect to regain the White House and make gains in Congress. However the party remains split on foreign policy issues, especially regarding the nation's long-term role in Iraq.

Labor unions

The New Deal Coalition forged by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s dominated national politics until the mid-1960s. One key reason was the close alliance of the party with labor unions. Since the 1960s, however, union membership has fallen by 2/3. In the 1980s unions came under assault from business and the party was unable to help them. Unions in recent years have increased their activism in the election cycle, especially in terms of funding and get-out-the-vote campaigns.

In 2004 and 2006, unions spent a combined $561 million to help elect their preferred candidates (most of them Democrats). That is nearly a 50% increase over the $381 million spent on the previous two campaigns. However they are still outspent by business; in 2000, companies were responsible for three times as much spending as unions. By the 2006 election, companies and their employees spent $491 million on elections, compared with $264 million for labor unions. Labor spent $32 million on its own mailings and television and radio commercials for the 2004 and 2006 elections, a nearly fivefold jump over the previous four years. Polls show 74% of voters who belong to an AFL-CIO-affiliated union voted for the congressional candidate endorsed by their union in 2006, up from 70% in 2004 and 68% in 2002.

Bibliography

1980 - Present

• Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 2008: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (2007) covers all the live politicians with amazing detail. New edition every two years since 1975.
• Black, Earl and Merle Black. Divided America: The Ferocious Power Struggle in American Politics (2007)
• Brownstein, Ronald. The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America(2007)
• Crane, Michael. The Political Junkie Handbook: The Definitive Reference Books on Politics (2004) covers all the major issues explaining the parties' positions
• Miroff, Bruce. Liberals’ Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party (2007). excerpt and text search
• Sabato, Larry J. Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election (2005).
• Sabato, Larry J. ed. The Sixth Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of the George W. Bush Presidency (1907), in-depth essays by scholars on key states in 2006
• Sabato, Larry J., and Howard R. Ernst eds. Political Parties and Elections (2007), 540pp; an encyclopedia with 450 entries by scholars
• Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future (2001) textbook.
• Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000 (2001), long essays by specialists on each time period
• Shafer, Byron and Richard Johnston. The End of Southern Exceptionalism (2006), uses statistical election data & polls to argue GOP growth was primarily a response to economic change

See Also

• U.S. Democratic Party, history
• U.S. Republican Party
• Fifth Party System
• New Deal Coalition
• Bill Clinton
• Hillary Clinton
• Barack Obama
• John Edwards

External links

• Democratic National Committee
• Denver DNC 2008 convention
• PoliticosLatinos.com Videos of 2008 US Presidential Election Candidates' Positions regarding Immigration