More on the new Democrats

Business Week did an article on Democrats? Imagine that. And the gops still don't understand that the party is reforming faster than Newt Gingrich fell from power.

Business Week
Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Democrats may take the rap for being a party of old faces and old ideas. But the party has new stars it could highlight to counter voters’ impressions of its weaknesses. Here are a few:

Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) has ranch roots, seminary schooling, and fierce-on-crime credentials as a state attorney general. Some Dems say Salazar, 50, a rare pol willing to work across the partisan divide, could become the first Latino President.

Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) made a splash with his dynamic keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. In his first year in Washington, Obama, 44, has concentrated on serving Illinois interests on issues like health-care funding for wounded veterans. But the party is likely to spotlight his talk of faith, family, and economic mobility, which appeals to voters across the political spectrum.

Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) may be the Democratic Newt Gingrich: the visionary and strategist who helps his party retake the House. Smart, pragmatic, and tough, the 45-year-old former Clinton political adviser is concocting a pro-investment economic agenda designed to attract the middle class and small business.

Virginia Governor Mark Warner, 50, proved a fiscally conservative Democrat could carry suburbs and rural regions in a red state. He has worked with a GOP legislature to turn a deep deficit into a surplus.

Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley has become the party’s go-to guy on protecting the homeland. The telegenic mayor, 42, has developed a detailed plan for rail and port safety and has been an outspoken critic of White House security priorities.