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Marion Barry

Marion Barry

:For the U.S. Representative from Arkansas with a similar name, see Marion Berry. Marion Berry Marion Shepilov Barry, Jr. (born March 6, 1936) served as Democratic mayor of Washington, D.C. from 1979 to 1991. He was forced to leave office during his third term as a result of his arrest and conviction on drug charges, but afterward again elected to the D.C. council and ultimately to the mayoralty, serving a fourth term from 1995 to 1999. Today, Barry serves on the Council of the District of Columbia, representing Ward Eight, which comprises Anacostia and Congress Heights.

Early life and activism

Barry was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi. He grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and graduated from LeMoyne College (now LeMoyne-Owen College) in 1958. Barry also graduated with a Masters of organic chemistry from Fisk University in 1960. Afterwards he joined the American civil rights movement during a movement to eliminate racial segregation of bus passengers, and was elected the first chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He abandoned his doctoral chemistry studies at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee for his new duties. During his time leading SNCC, Barry heavily lobbied against racial segregation and discrimination. Barry is a prominent member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.

Washington, D.C. political career

In 1965, Barry moved to Washington, D.C. to open a local chapter of SNCC where he was heavily involved in coordinating peaceful street demonstrations. He served on the first city school board to implement school board elections, in 1971, and served as Board president during his tenure. He was elected a member of Washington's first elected city council in 1974, and while serving as a council member, he became chair of the Committee on Finance and Review. While serving on the D.C. city council in 1977, Barry was shot by radical Hanafi Muslim terrorists when they overran District Building. Barry was shot near his heart during a two-day crisis in which hostages were held by the terrorists, and which was finally defused by the FBI, and Muslim ambassadors. In 1978, Barry was elected mayor of Washington, DC. He was only the second person elected to this position. Barry was elected to three consecutive terms as mayor and held the position for over a decade. After being released from prison, Barry was successful in his 1992 bid for a city council seat. In 1994, Barry was elected to his fourth and final term as mayor, serving until January 1999. From 1997 onwards, the federally imposed Control Board reduced Barry's power to allocate and manage funds for city projects. The mayor was also involved in further scandals, eventually leading to his decision not to run for a fifth term in office. He was succeeded by Anthony A. Williams, the former Chief Financial Officer of the Control Board. After leaving office, Barry performed consulting work for an investment banking firm. On June 12, 2004 Barry announced that he was running in the Democratic primary for the Ward 8 council seat, a position he held before becoming mayor. Barry defeated the incumbent councilmember, Sandy Allen, on September 14, 2004, by a margin of at least 60–25%, setting him up to win the Ward 8 council seat in the November general election by a margin of 96–4%.

Legal problems

November.]] On January 18, 1990, Barry was arrested with a woman in a sting operation at the Vista Hotel by the FBI and D.C. Police for crack cocaine use and possession. The incident – played over and over on television – produced what is perhaps the most memorable quote of Barry's long career: "Goddamn bitch set me up!" Barry was charged with three counts of felony perjury, 10 counts of misdemeanor drug possession, and one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to possess cocaine; however, he was convicted only of a single misdemeanor count of possessing cocaine in November 1989. He was acquitted on one possession charge and a mistrial was declared on the 12 remaining charges. As a result of his arrest and the ensuing trial, Barry was forced to step down from his position as mayor. In the midst of his campaign for a city council seat, Barry was sentenced to a six-month federal prison term in October 1990. In 2002, Barry began a campaign for an at-large city council seat. But the bid was aborted after the U.S. Park Police alleged they had found small amounts of cocaine and marijuana in Barry's car. Barry has insisted the police planted the drugs. Barry's paranoia about being accused of drug crimes was so strong that in one instance, after a car of his was stolen and subsequently recovered by the police, Barry sold it without ever driving it again, claiming he feared police could have planted drugs in the car. In early October 2005, The Washington Post reported that Barry was under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service for failing to file federal and District of Columbia income tax returns and pay his taxes, from 1999-2004. [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9593823/]. On October 28, 2005, Barry plead guilty to the misdemeanor charges stemming from the IRS investigation. He awaits sentencing, which will occur in January 2006.[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801028.html]

Health problems

In 1995, Barry was successfully treated for prostate cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

External links

- [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/library/dc/barry/barry.htm Marion Barry: Making of a Mayor]
- [http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/BARRY/default.htm Official website for Councilman Barry]
- [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0963124668/britcomsforev-20/ Unauthorised biography page] Barry, Marion, Jr. Barry, Marion Barry, Marion Barry, Marion Barry, Marion Barry, Marion Barry, Marion Barry, Marion Barry, Marion Barry, Marion

Arkansas

---- Arkansas (pronounced or ) is a southern state in the United States. The population according to the 2000 census was 2,673,400. Its U.S. postal abbreviation is AR, and its Associated Press abbreviation is Ark. It was admitted as the 25th state of the United States in 1836.

History

The early French explorers of the state gave it its name, which is probably a phonetic spelling for the French word for "downriver" people, a reference to the Quapaw people and the river along which they settled. Other Native American nations living in present-day Arkansas were Caddo, Cherokee and Osage Nations. On June 15, 1836, Arkansas became the 25th state of the United States as a slave state. Arkansas seceded from the Union on May 6, 1861 during the American Civil War. Under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress, by June 1868, had readmitted Arkansas, as well as North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Florida. The state is the only one with an official pronunciation. The traditional form "arkanSAW" was made official by the state legislature in 1881.

Law and government

Florida The current governor of Arkansas is Mike Huckabee, a Republican. [http://www.mikehuckabee.com Mike Huckabee], who had been elected lieutenant governor in a 1993 special election, ascended to the governor's office in 1996 when Governor Jim Guy Tucker, a Democrat, was convicted as part of the Whitewater Scandal. This led to a state "Constitutional crisis" when Tucker refused to give up the governor's office for a short period of time, because the Arkansas Constitution does not allow a convicted felon to be governor of the state. Tucker had been lieutenant governor under Bill Clinton and had become governor as a result of Clinton's election to the presidency. Arkansas's two U.S. Senators are Democrats Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. The state has four seats in House of Representatives. Three seats are held by Democrats—Marion Berry (District 1), Vic Snyder (District 2), and Mike Ross (District 4). One seat is held by the state's lone Republican Congressman, John Boozman (District 3). The Democratic Party holds super-majority status in the Arkansas General Assembly. Republicans actually lost seats in the State House in 2004. A majority of local and statewide offices are also held by Democrats. This arrangement is extremely rare in the modern South, where a majority of statewide offices are held by Republicans. Most Republican strength lies mainly in northwest Arkansas in the area around Fort Smith, while the rest of the state is strongly Democratic. Arkansas has only elected one Republican to the United States Senate since Reconstruction. However, the Arkansas General Assembly has not been controlled by the Republican Party since Reconstruction, and is the fourth most Democratic Legislature in the country, after Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Connecticut. In Arkansas, the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor and thus can be from a different political party. Each office's term is four years long. Office holders are term-limited to two full terms plus any partial terms prior to the first full term. Some of Arkansas' counties have two county seats, as opposed to the usual one seat. The arrangement dates back to when travel was extremely difficult in the states. The seats are usually on opposite sides of the county. Though travel is no longer the difficulty it once was, there are few efforts to eliminate the two seat arrangement where it exists, since the county seat is a source of pride (and jobs) to the city involved. Section 105 of Chapter 4 of Title 1 of the Arkansas code^{[http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/NXT/gateway.dll/ARCode/title00000.htm/chapter00063.htm/section00068.htm?f=templates$fn=document-frame.htm$3.0#JD_1-4-105]} determines the official, codified pronunciation of Arkansas: "It should be pronounced in three (3) syllables, with the final "s" silent, the "a" in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables." The same section states that the variation are-KAN-sas "is an innovation to be discouraged." It is believed that Arkansas is the only U.S. State with such a law on the books. See: List of Arkansas Governors

State symbols

The following state symbols are officially recognized by the state law.
- State American Folk Dance: Square Dance
- State Anthem: Arkansas by Eva Ware Barnett
- State Beverage: Milk
- State Bird: Mockingbird
- State Flower: Apple Blossom
- State Folk Dance: Square Dance
- State Fruit: South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato
- State Gem: Diamond
- State Historical Song: The Arkansas Traveler (folk song)
- State Historic Cooking Vessel: Dutch oven
- State Insect: Honeybee
- State Mammal: White-tailed Deer
- State Mineral: Quartz Crystal
- State Motto: Regnat Populus (The People Rule)
- State Musical Instrument: the Fiddle
- State Rock: Bauxite
- State Soil: Stuttgart Soil Series
- State Songs: "Arkansas (You Run Deep in Me)" by Wayland Holyfield and "Oh, Arkansas" by Terry Rose and Gary Klass
- State Tree: Pine
- State Vegetable: South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato

Geography

See: List of Arkansas counties, List of cities in Arkansas, List of Arkansas townships. The capital of Arkansas is Little Rock. Arkansas is the only state in the US where diamonds are found naturally (near Murfreesboro, Arkansas). The eastern border for most of Arkansas is the Mississippi River except in Clay and Greene counties where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel. Arkansas shares its southern border with Louisiana, its northern border with Missouri, its eastern border with Tennessee and Mississippi, and its western border with Texas and Oklahoma. Arkansas is a beautiful land of mountains and valleys, thick forests and fertile plains. Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Boston Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains and these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; the southern and eastern parts of Arkansas are called the Lowlands. The so called Lowlands are better known as the Delta and the Grand Prairie. The land along the Mississippi river is referred to as the "Delta" of Arkansas. It gets this name from the formation of its rich alluvial soils formed from the flooding of the mighty Mississippi. The Grand Prairie is slightly away from the Mississippi river in the southeast portion of the state and consists of a more undulating landscape. Both are fertile agricultural areas and home to much of the crop agriculture in the state. Delta Arkansas is home to many caves, such as Blanchard Springs Caverns. Hot Springs National Park and the Buffalo National River can also be found within its borders.

Interstate highways

- Interstate 30
- Interstate 40
- Interstate 55
- Interstate 430
- Interstate 440
- Interstate 530
- Interstate 540
- Interstate 630

United States highways

Major Arkansas highways

Economy

The state's total gross state product for 2003 was $76 billion. Its Per Capita Personal Income for 2003 was $24,384, 50^th in the nation. The state's agriculture outputs are poultry and eggs, soybeans, sorghum, cattle, cotton, rice, hogs, and milk. Its industrial outputs are food processing, electric equipment, fabricated metal products, machinery, paper products, bromine, and vanadium. In recent years, automobile parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states (though Arkansas does not, as of August 2005, have an auto plant itself). Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" is prominently displayed in state tourism advertising.

Demographics

:See also: List of people from Arkansas As of 2003, the state's population was 2,725,714 according to Census Bureau estimates. 48.8% is male, and 51.2% is female. Racially, Arkansas is:
- 78.6% White non-Hispanic
- 15.7% Black
- 3.2% Hispanic
- 0.8% Asian
- 0.7% Native American
- 1.3% Mixed race The five largest ancestry groups in the state are: American (15.9%), African American (15.7%), Irish (9.5%), German (9.3%), English (7.9%). People of American ancestry have a strong presence in the northwestern Ozarks and the central part of the state. Blacks live mainly in the fertile southern and eastern parts of the state, especially along the Mississippi river. Arkansans of British and German ancestry are mostly found in the far northwestern Ozarks near the Missouri border. As of 2000, 95.0% of Arkansas residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 3.3% speak Spanish. French is the third most spoken language at 0.3%, followed by German at 0.3% and Vietnamese at 0.1%.

Religion

Arkansas, like most other Southern states, is overwhelmingly Protestant. The religious affiliations of the people are as follows:
- Christian – 86%
- Protestant – 78%
- Baptist – 39%
- Methodist – 9%
- Pentecostal – 6%
- Church of Christ – 6%
- Assemblies of God – 3%
- Other Protestant – 15%
- Roman Catholic – 7%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – <1%
- Non-Religious – 14%

Important cities and towns

Education and Research centers

Centers of Research

- [http://www.comanchelodge.com/chickamauga-cherokee.html Arkansas Cherokee Indian Research]
- Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center [http://www.dbnrrc.ars.usda.gov/ website]
- National Center for Toxicological Research [http://www.fda.gov/nctr/ website]

Colleges and universities

National Center for Toxicological Research
- University of Arkansas System
- University of Arkansas
- University of Arkansas - Fort Smith
- University of Arkansas at Little Rock
- University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
- University of Arkansas at Monticello
- University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

External links

- [http://www.state.ar.us Official State website Homepage]
- [http://www.arkansas.com/things-to-do/history-heritage/facts.asp Facts About Arkansas]
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/05000.html U.S. Census Bureau]
- [http://www.usnewspapers.org/state/arkansas Arkansas Newspapers]
- [http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/data/ar_code.asp Arkansas State Code (the state statutes of Arkansas)]
- Category:States of the United States zh-min-nan:Arkansas ko:아칸소 주 ms:Arkansas ja:アーカンソー州 simple:Arkansas

Marion Berry

:This page is about the Arkansas House member; the former mayor of Washington, DC is Marion Barry. Marion Barry Robert Marion Berry (born August 27 1942), American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997, representing the 1st District of Arkansas ([http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/ar01_109.gif map]). He was born in Stuttgart, Arkansas, was educated at the University of Arkansas, and was a farmer, a licensed pharmacist, a member of the city council of Gillett, Arkansas, a member of the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission, a member of the White House Domestic Policy Council (1993-1996) and special assistant to President Bill Clinton for Agricultural Trade and Food Assistance (1993-1996) before entering the House. On the House floor, Berry called Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Florida) a "[http://www.howdydoodylookingnimrod.com/ Howdy Doody looking nimrod]".

External link

- [http://www.house.gov/berry/ Official website] Berry, Marion Berry, Marion Berry, Marion

March 6

March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). There are 300 days remaining.

Events

- 1447 - Nicholas V becomes Pope.
- 1454 - Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of the Prussian Confederation pledged allegiance to Casimir IV of Poland, and the Polish king agreed to help in their struggle for independence from the Teutonic Knights.
- 1460 - Treaty of Alcaçovas - Portugal gives the Canary Islands to Castile in exchange for claims in West Africa.
- 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan discovers Guam.
- 1820 - The Missouri Compromise is signed into law by President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, but makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free.
- 1834 - York, Upper Canada is incorporated as Toronto.
- 1836 - Texas Revolution: Battle of the Alamo - After a 13-day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 189 Texas volunteers defending the Alamo are defeated and the fort taken.
- 1853 - The Giuseppe Verdi opera La Traviata premieres in Venice.
- 1857 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case.
- 1869 - Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society.
- 1899 - Bayer registers aspirin as a trademark.
- 1900 - A coal mine explosion in West Virginia traps 50 coal miners.
- 1901 - In Bremen an assassin attempts to kill Wilhelm II of Germany.
- 1925 - Pionerskaya Pravda, one of the oldest children's newspapers in Europe, is founded
- 1940 - Winter War: An armistice is signed by Finland and the Soviet Union.
- 1946 - Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.
- 1947 - USS Newport News, the first air-conditioned naval ship, is launched from Newport News, Virginia.
- 1951 - The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins.
- 1953 - Georgy Maksimilianovich Malenkov succeeds Josef Stalin as Premier and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- 1957 - United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and Togoland become the independent Republic of Ghana.
- 1957 - Israel withdraws its troops from the Sinai Peninsula
- 1964 - Constantine II becomes King of Greece.
- 1964 - Tom O'Hara sets a new world record for the indoor mile run by completing it in 3 minutes, 56.4 seconds.
- 1970 - Cult leader and suspected murderer Charles Manson releases an album titled Lies to help finance his defense.
- 1975 - Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement over their border dispute.
- 1981 - After 19 years presenting the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time.
- 1983 - The United States Football League begins its first year of competition.
- 1984 - Twelve-month-long strike in British coal industry begins.
- 1987 - The British ferry M/S Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in about 90 seconds after leaving the harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium en route to Dover, England across the English Channel, killing 193.
- 1992 - The Michelangelo computer virus begins to affect computers.
- 1994 - Referendum in Moldova results in the electorate voting against possible reunification with Romania.
- 1997 - Picasso's painting Tete de Femme is stolen from a London gallery, and is recovered a week later.

Births

- 1405 - King John II of Castile (d. 1454)
- 1459 - Jacob Fugger, German banker (d. 1525)
- 1475 - Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian painter (d. 1564)
- 1483 - Francesco Guicciardini, Italian statesman and historian (d. 1540)
- 1495 - Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet (d. 1556)
- 1619 - Cyrano de Bergerac, French soldier, poet (d. 1655)
- 1663 - Francis Atterbury, English man of letters (d. 1732)
- 1706 - George Pocock, British admiral (d. 1792)
- 1716 - Pehr Kalm, Finnish explorer and naturalist (d. 1779)
- 1779 - Antoine-Henri Jomini, French general (d. 1869)
- 1787 - Joseph von Fraunhofer, German physicist (d. 1826)
- 1806 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (d. 1861)
- 1812 - Aaron Lufkin Dennison American watch manufacturer (d. 1895)
- 1885 - Ring Lardner, American writer (d. 1933)
- 1903 - Empress Nagako of Japan (d. 2000)
- 1904 - Joseph Schmidt, Austrian tenor (d. 1942)
- 1905 - Bob Wills, American singer (d. 1975)
- 1906 - Lou Costello, American actor comedian (d. 1959)
- 1914 - Kiril Kondrashin, Russian conductor (d. 1981)
- 1915 - Pete Gray, American baseball player (d. 2002)
- 1917 - Will Eisner, American illustrator and cartoonist (d. 2005)
- 1923 - Ed McMahon, American television personality
- 1923 - Wes Montgomery, American musician (d. 1968)
- 1926 - Alan Greenspan, American economist
- 1926 - Andrzej Wajda, Polish film director
- 1927 - Gordon Cooper, astronaut (d. 2004)
- 1928 - Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1930 - Lorin Maazel, French-born American conductor
- 1931 - Hal Needham, American stunt man
- 1933 - Ted Abernathy, baseball player (d. 2004)
- 1934 - John Noakes, British television presenter
- 1935 - Ron Delany, Irish athlete
- 1936 - Marion Barry Jr., Mayor of Washington DC
- 1937 - Ivan Boesky, American stock trader
- 1937 - Valentina Tereshkova, cosmonaut
- 1939 - Adam Osborne, British author and computer designer (d. 2003)
- 1940 - Willie Stargell, baseball player
- 1942 - Ben Murphy, American actor
- 1944 - Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand soprano
- 1944 - Mary Wilson, American singer (Supremes)
- 1946 - David Gilmour, English musician (Pink Floyd)
- 1947 - Kiki Dee, English singer
- 1947 - Dick Fosbury, American athlete
- 1947 - Martin Kove, American actor
- 1947 - Rob Reiner, American actor, comedian, and film producer
- 1949 - Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan
- 1949 - Martin Buchan, Scottish footballer
- 1951 - Gerrie Knetemann, Dutch cyclist (d. 2004)
- 1953 - Jan Kjærstad, Norwegian author
- 1953 - Jacklyn Zeman, American actress
- 1955 - Alberta Watson, Canadian actress
- 1959 - Tom Arnold, American actor and comedian
- 1969 - Tari Phillips, American basketball player
- 1972 - Shaquille O'Neal, American basketball player
- 1976 - Ken Kennedy(Anderson), Professional wrestler
- 1979 - Tim Howard, American soccer player

Deaths

1252 to 1899

- 1252 - Saint Rose of Viterbo, Italian saint (b. 1235)
- 1490 - Ivan the Young, Ruler of Tver (b. 1458)
- 1531 - Pedrarias Dávila, Spanish conquistador
- 1627 - Krzysztof Zbaraski, Polish statesman (b. 1580)
- 1754 - Henry Pelham, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1694)
- 1758 - Henry Vane, 1st Earl of Darlington, English politician
- 1764 - Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1690)
- 1796 - Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, French writer (b. 1713)
- 1836 - Davy Crockett, American frontiersman (b. 1786)
- 1854 - Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, British soldier and politician (b. 1778)
- 1888 - Louisa May Alcott, American novelist (b. 1832)
- 1895 - Camilla Collett, Norwegian writer and feminist (b. 1813)
- 1899 - Victoria Kaiulani, Hawaiian princess (b. 1875)

1900 to 1999

- 1905 - John Henninger Reagan, American Confederate politician (b. 1818)
- 1932 - John Philip Sousa, American band leader, conductor, and composer (b. 1854)
- 1933 - Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1873)
- 1941 - Gutzon Borglum, Danish sculptor (b. 1867)
- 1948 - Ross Lockridge, Jr., American novelist (b. 1914)
- 1950 - Albert Lebrun, President of France (b. 1871)
- 1951 - Ivor Novello, Welsh actor, musician, and composer (b. 1893)
- 1961 - George Formby, British comedian and singer (b. 1904)
- 1964 - King Paul of Greece (b. 1901)
- 1965 - Margaret Dumont, American actress (b. 1889)
- 1967 - John Haden Badley, author and educator (b. 1865)
- 1967 - Nelson Eddy, American singer and actor (b. 1901)
- 1967 - Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer (b. 1882)
- 1969 - Nadya Rusheva, Russian painter (b. 1952)
- 1970 - William Hopper, American actor (b. 1915)
- 1971 - Thurston Dart, English harpsichordist and conductor (B. 1921)
- 1973 - Pearl S. Buck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
- 1976 - Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom, American boxer and actor (b. 1903)
- 1981 - George Geary, English cricketer (b. 1893)
- 1982 - Ayn Rand, Russian-American author, (b. 1905)
- 1985 - Henry Wilcoxon, Dominican actor (b. 1905)
- 1986 - Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist, (b. 1887)
- 1993 - Douglas Marland, American writer (b. 1935)
- 1994 - Melina Mercouri, Greek actress, political activist, and politician (b. 1920)
- 1997 - Cheddi Jagan, President of Guyana (b. 1918)
- 1997 - Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1924)

2000 onwards

- 2000 - John Colicos, Canadian actor (b. 1928)
- 2001 - Kim Walker, American actress (b. 1968)
- 2003 - John Sanford, American author (b. 1904)
- 2004 - Frances Dee, American actress (b. 1909)
- 2005 - Hans Bethe, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
- 2005 - Tommy Vance, British radio disc jockey (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances

- In 2004, the Jewish holiday of Purim begins.
- In Ghana, March 6 is the national independence day
- Mothering Sunday in the United Kingdom (2005)
- Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of the season of Lent in the Christian liturgical calendar. (2005)
- Casimir Pulaski Day in Illinois (2006, first Monday of March)

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/6 BBC: On This Day] ---- March 5 - March 7 - February 6 - April 6 -- listing of all days ko:3월 6일 ja:3月6日 simple:March 6 th:6 มีนาคม

United States/Democratic Party

The Democratic Party, founded in 1792, is the longest-standing political party in the world. It is one of the two major parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. Currently it is the minority party in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. Democrats control 20 state legislatures, as do the Republicans (nine states have different parties in control of the upper and lower chambers, while Nebraska's unicameral legislature is elected on a nonpartisan basis). In 2005, the Democrats regained a majority of legislative seats nationwide. Of the two major U.S. parties, the Democratic Party is to the left of the Republican Party, though its politics are not as consistently leftist as the traditional social democratic and labor parties in much of the world. The Democratic Party is more notably factional than many major parties in the industrialized world, partly because American political parties in general do not have as much official power to control members as political parties in many other countries, and partly because the United States does not have a parliamentary goverment.

History

Beginnings

labor-1837).]] The Democratic Party's origins lie in the original Republican Party founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1792. Today, that party is usually referred to as the "Democratic-Republican Party" to avoid confusion. After the disintegration of the Federalist Party, the Democratic-Republicans were the only major party in American politics. For 20 years, different factions of the party contended for the presidency, whose candidates were nominated by congressional caucuses. In 1824, a particularly bitter election was thrown to the House of Representatives, and won by John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay. Jackson, recovering from his defeat, gathered together prominent leaders, including Martin Van Buren of New York and even Vice President John C. Calhoun to support his next bid for the presidency. By the election of 1828, the unified party broke into two. One became the National Republican Party, and backed the incumbent President, and the other, which became known as the Democratic Party, after their insistence that the President hold a national mandate from the people, backed Andrew Jackson. The National Republican faction became the Whig Party (after their opposition to "King Andrew"), which would disintegrate in the 1850s when dissident Whigs and Northern Democrats formed the Republican Party.

Antebellum

Initially the Democratic Party was a coalition between Western pioneers in the Ohio River valley and Illinois - the "North West" of the U.S. at that time - and Southern planters and agrarians from the Jeffersonian coalition. This coalition was very similar to the one that Jefferson and Madison had worked to create, and lead to the belief that Jackson, and not John Quincy Adams, represented a continuous "Jeffersonian" tradition. This was in opposition to the Federalist and Hamiltonian conception of government which Adams was said to represent. The key issues were election access and the Bank of the United States. The Jeffersonians had opposed the first bank, but had allowed it to continue for 20 years of their time in power. The issue of the Bank, and tariffs would be the central domestic policy issue from 1828 to 1850, even though it was increasingly overshadowed by expansion and nativism in the run up to the Civil War. The Democratic Party would lose the presidency to William Henry Harrison, only to gain it back when his Vice President took office, and proceeded to enact many policies the party favored. James Polk would solidify the party's hold on power with a coalition that was increasingly based on holding a solid South and taking enough states in the North to win national power. The party also became increasingly associated with continuation of slavery, including pressing for more and more aggressive laws to enforce the recapture of enslaved individuals who had escaped, and for more of the Great Plains to be opened to slavery. This ran into the Missouri Compromise, which had set a free line, north of which slavery would be prohibited, in return for keeping a balance of power in the Senate. With the disintegration of the Whig Party in 1856 into two factions, the American Party of Millard Fillmore and the Republican Party whose first candidate was John Fremont, it seemed as if the Democratic Party would have a permanent dominance of political power.

Civil War and Reconstruction

In the 1850s, following the disintegration of the Whig Party, the Democratic Party became increasingly divided, with its Southern wing staunchly advocating the expansion of slavery into new territories, in opposition to the newly founded Republican Party, which sought to prohibit such expansion. Democrats in the Northern states joined the Republicans in opposing the expansion of slavery, and at the 1860 nominating convention the Party split and nominated two candidates (see U.S. presidential election, 1860). As a result, the Democrats went down to defeat with the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln, a link in the chain of events leading up to the Civil War. During the war, Northern Democrats divided into two factions, War Democrats, who supported the military policies of President Abraham Lincoln, and Copperheads, who strongly opposed them. After 1864, the Democratic Party's main opposition has come from the modern Republican Party. The Democrats were shattered by the war but nevertheless benefited from white Southerners' resentment of Reconstruction and consequent hostility to the Republican Party. Once Reconstruction ended, and the disenfranchisement of blacks was re-established, the region was known as the "Solid South" for nearly a century because it reliably voted Democratic and there was, in many places, effectively only one party, there being no significant Republican presence. Though Republicans continued to control the White House until 1885, the Democrats remained competitive, especially in the mid-Atlantic and lower Midwest, and controlled the House of Representatives for most of that period. In the election of 1884, Grover Cleveland, the reforming Democratic Governor of New York, won the Presidency, a feat he repeated in 1892, having lost (but won the popular vote) in the election of 1888 (as had Samuel J. Tilden in the election of 1876).

Populism and Republican dominance

In the presidential election of 1896, widely regarded as a political realignment, Democrats favoring Free Silver defeated their conservative counterparts and succeeded in nominating William Jennings Bryan for the presidency (as did the agrarian Populist Party). Bryan, perhaps best known for his "Cross of Gold" speech delivered at the 1896 convention, waged a vigorous campaign attacking Eastern monied interests, but lost to Republican William McKinley in an election which was to prove decisive: the Republicans controlled the presidency for 28 of the following 36 years.

The New Deal

William McKinley The stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression set the stage for a more progressive government and Franklin D. Roosevelt won a landslide victory in the election of 1932, campaigning on a platform of "Relief, Recovery, and Reform". This came to be termed "The New Deal" after a phrase in his acceptance speech. The Democrats also swept to large majorities in both houses of Congress, and among state Governors. Roosevelt altered the nature of the Party, away from laissez-faire capitalism, and towards an ideology of economic regulation and insurance against hardship. After winning re-election in 1936, Roosevelt embarked on an ambitious legislative program that came to be called "The Second New Deal." He was stymied, however, by an alliance of Republicans and conservative Democrats, as well as by the Supreme Court. Frustrated by the conservative wing of his own party, Roosevelt made an attempt to rid himself of it; in 1938, he actively campaigned against five incumbent conservative Democratic senators, and to appoint more justices to the Court. However, Roosevelt's attempt to chastise the conservatives failed when all five senators won re-election despite Roosevelt's efforts, and his attempts to add justices to the Court became derisively known as "Court Packing". Roosevelt's New Deal programs focused on job creation through public works projects as well as on social welfare programs such as Social Security. It also included sweeping reforms to the banking system, work regulation, transportation, communications, stock markets and attempts to regulate prices. His policies soon paid off by uniting a diverse coalition of Democratic voters called the New Deal Coalition, which included labor unions, minorities (most significantly, Catholics and Jews), and liberals. This united voter base allowed Democrats to be elected to Congress and the presidency for much of the next 30 years. Under Roosevelt, the Democratic Party became identified more closely with modern liberalism, which included the promotion of social welfare, civil rights, and regulation of the economy.

Civil Rights Movement

In 1924 at the Democratic National Convention, a resolution denouncing the white-supremacist Ku Klux Klan was introduced. After much debate, the resolution failed by just a single vote. This resolution later passed during the 1948 Democratic National Convention as part of a larger resolution endorsing civil rights. civil rights when he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.]] The New Deal Coalition began to fracture as more Democratic leaders voiced support for civil rights, upsetting the party's traditional base of conservative Southern Democrats. After Harry Truman's platform showed support for civil rights and anti-segregation laws during the 1948 Democratic National Convention, many Southern Democratic delegates decided to split from the Party and formed the "Dixiecrats", led by South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond. Over the next few years, many conservative Democrats in the "Solid South" drifted away from the party. On the other hand, African Americans, who had traditionally given strong support to the Republican Party since its inception as the "anti-slavery party", shifted to the Democratic Party due to its New Deal economic policies. The national party's dramatic reversal on civil rights issues culminated when Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Meanwhile, the Republicans were beginning their Southern strategy, which aimed to solidify the Republican Party's electoral hold over conservative white Southerners. Southern Democrats took notice of the fact that 1964 Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater had voted against the Civil Rights Act on states rights grounds, and in the presidential election of 1964, Goldwater's only electoral victories outside his home state of Arizona were in the states of the Deep South. The degree to which the Southern Democrats had abandoned the party became evident in the 1968 Presidential election when every former Confederate state except Texas voted for either Republican Richard Nixon or independent George Wallace, the latter a former Southern Democrat. Defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey's electoral votes came mainly from the Northern states, marking a dramatic shift from the 1948 election 20 years earlier, when the losing Republican candidate's electoral votes were mainly concentrated in the Northern states.

1970s

In 1972, the Democrats nominated South Dakota Senator George McGovern as the Party's presidential candidate on a platform which advocated, among other things, U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam and a guaranteed minimum income for all Americans. McGovern was defeated in a landslide by incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon, the former winning only Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. By 1976, however, things had changed dramatically. Nixon, under criticism during the Watergate scandal, resigned from the presidency in 1974. Prior to that, his Vice President, Spiro Agnew had been forced out by a separate scandal. After Agnew resigned, Nixon appointed Gerald Ford, a Republican Representative from Michigan as Agnew's replacement. Thus, when Nixon resigned, Ford became the first President in the nation's history to have been neither elected President nor Vice President. Ford soon pardoned Nixon. Mistrust of the administration, complicated by a combination of economic recession and inflation, sometimes called "stagflation," led to Ford's defeat in 1976 to Jimmy Carter, a former Governor of Georgia. In 1980, Carter lost to Ronald Reagan after serving one term in office.

1980s

Instrumental in the election of Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1980, were Democrats who supported many conservative policies. The "Reagan Democrats" were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterwards, but they voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 (and for George H. W. Bush in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were mostly white ethnics in the Northeast who were attracted to Reagan's social conservatism on issues such as abortion, and to his strong foreign policy. They did not continue to vote Republican in 1992 or 1996, so the term fell into disuse except as a reference to the 1980s. The term is not used to describe southern whites who became permanent Republicans in presidential elections. Stanley Greenberg, a Democratic pollster analyzed white ethnic voters, largely unionized auto workers, in suburban Macomb County, Michigan, just north of Detroit. The county voted 63 percent for Kennedy in 1960 and 66 percent for Reagan in 1984. He concluded that Reagan Democrats no longer saw Democrats as champions of their middle class aspirations, but instead saw it as being a party working primarily for the benefit of others, especially African Americans and the very poor. Bill Clinton targeted the Reagan Democrats with considerable success in 1992 and 1996. The failure to hold the Reagan Democrats and the white South led to the final collapse of the New Deal coalition. Reagan carried 49 states against former Vice President and Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale, a New Deal stalwart, in 1984. Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, running not as a New Dealer but as an efficiency expert in public adminsitration, lost by a landslide in 1988 to Vice President George H. W. Bush. In response to these landslide defeats, the Democratic Leadership Council was created. It worked to move the Party rightwards to the ideological center. With the Party retaining left-of-center supporters as well as supporters holding moderate or conservative views on some issues, the Democrats became generally a catch all party with widespread appeal to most opponents of the Republicans.

1990s

catch all party In 1992, for the first time in 12 years, the United States elected a Democrat to the White House. They seemingly revived themselves only to lose both the House and Senate in the mid-year 1994 elections. While President Bill Clinton claimed and got credit for a balanced federal budget and welfare reform, congressional Republicans won on policy throughout the 1990’s. Clinton for example vetoed two welfare reform bills before signing the third, largely the same, right before the 1996 presidential elections. Labor unions, which had been steadily losing membership since the 1960s, found they had also lost political clout inside the Democratic Party: Clinton enacted the NAFTA free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico over the strong objection of these labor unions, much to the disappointment of those on the left of the Party. When the DLC attempted to move the Democratic agenda in favor of more centrist positions, prominent Democrats from both the centrist and conservative factions (such as Terry McAuliffe) assumed leadership of the party and its direction. Some liberals and progressives felt alienated by the Democratic Party, which they felt had become unconcerned with the interests of the common people and left-wing issues in general. Some Democrats challenged the validity of such critiques, citing the Democratic role in pushing for progressive reforms.

21st century

During the 2000 Presidential election, the Democrats chose Vice President Al Gore to be the Party's candidate for the presidency. Although Gore and George W. Bush, the Republican candidate, clearly disagreed on issues such as abortion, gun control, environmentalism, gay rights, foreign policy, public education, trade unionism, alternative fuel research, global warming, judicial appointments, and affirmative action, some critics -- Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader in particular -- asserted that Bush and Gore were too similar because they held the same views on free trade and reductions in government-funded social welfare. On election day, Gore won the popular vote by just over 500,000 votes, but lost in the electoral college by four votes. Some election observers blamed Nader's third-party candidacy for Gore's defeat. They pointed to the states of New Hampshire (4 electoral votes) and Florida (25 electoral votes), where Nader's total votes exceeded Governor Bush's margin of victory. In Florida, Nader received 97,000 votes; Bush defeated Gore by a mere 538. Winning either Florida or New Hampshire would have given Gore enough electoral votes to win the presidency. Florida by 538 votes in Florida in one of the most controversial elections, although he won the national popular vote.]] Republican Senators went from the majority in the 106th Congress to a split minority in the 107th Congress (with a Republican Vice President breaking a tie). However, when liberal Republican Sen. Jim Jeffords (Vermont) changed his party affiliation to unaffiliated and chose to quorum with the Democrats, majoritarian status went to the Democrats but they lost it again in 2002. In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, the nation's focus was changed to issues of national security. All but one Democrat voted with their Republican counterparts to authorize President Bush's 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Senatorial Democratic leader Tom Daschle pushed for his party to approve the USA PATRIOT Act and the invasion of Iraq. The Democrats were split over the 2003 invasion of Iraq and increasingly expressed concerns about both the justification and progress of the War on Terrorism and the domestic effects including threats to civil rights and civil liberties from the USA PATRIOT Act. In the wake of the financial fraud scandal of Enron and other corporations, Congressional Democrats were integral in pushing for and developing a legal overhaul of business accounting with the intention of preventing further accounting fraud. With job losses and bankruptcies across regions and industries increasing in 2001 and 2002, the Democrats generally campaigned on the issue of economic recovery. The Democrats began fielding Presidential candidates as early as December 2002, when Gore announced he would not run again in 2004. Ex-Governor Howard Dean of Vermont, an opponent of the war and a critic of the Democratic establishment, was the frontrunner leading into the Democratic primaries. Dean had immense grassroots support, especially from the left wing of the Party. John Kerry, a much more centrist figure, was nominated because he was seen as more "electable" than Dean. In the time from 2003 to 2004, layoffs of American workers occurring in various industries due to outsourcing, some Democrats (including Howard Dean and Senatorial candidate Erskine Bowles of North Carolina) began to refine their positions on free trade and some even questioned their past support for it. By 2004, the failure of George W. Bush's administration to find weapons of mass destruction, mounting combat casualties and fatalities in Iraq, and the lack of any end point for the War on Terror were frequently debated issues in the election. That year, Democrats generally campaigned on surmounting the jobless recovery, exiting Iraq, and counterterrorism. jobless recovery Despite strong campaigning, the Republican Party won across the board. Kerry lost both the popular and electoral vote. Republicans gained four seats in the Senate and three seats in the House of Representatives. Also, for the first time since Barry Goldwater of Arizona won his first election to the Senate, the Democratic leader of the Senate lost re-election. In the end there were 3,660 Democratic state legislators across the nation to the Republicans' 3,557, and Democrats had gained governorships in Louisiana, New Hampshire and Montana. However, the Democrats lost the governorship of Missouri and a legislative majority in Georgia - which had once been a Democratic stronghold since Reconstruction. The most common hypothesis for why the Democrats lost was that the Republicans ran in opposition to gay rights and used state ballot initiatives against same-sex marriage to attract more so-called "values voters" to the polls.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29#ref_4] Other hypothesis include that the Democrats had been tagged with too negative of a public image [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29#ref_3] and that the Democrats failed to clearly articulate its true values, goals and issue positions.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29#ref_2] Flaws in the electoral systems in Ohio and Florida led some to speculate the validity of the results (Bush received a majority of votes in both states); these controversies led Sen. Barbara Boxer of California and several Democratic U.S. Representatives (including John Conyers of Michigan) to force a Congressional debate on the issue when the 109th Congress first convened and propose disapproving the election results, a proposal that the neither House approved. (See 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy and irregularities.) Since then, many Democrats have voiced serious concern about the future of their party. Prominent Democrats began to rethink the party's direction, and a variety of strategies for moving forward were voiced. Some have suggested moving towards the right to regain seats in the House and Senate and possibly win the presidency in 2008. Others suggested that the party move more to the left and become a stronger opposition party. These debates were reflected in the 2005 campaign for Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, which Howard Dean won over the objections of many party insiders. Dean sought to move the Democratic strategy away from the establishment, and bolster support for the party's state and local chapters.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29#ref_6] When the 109th Congress convened, Democratic Senators chose Harry Reid of Nevada as their Minority Leader and Richard Durbin of Illinois to replace Reid as their Assistant Minority Leader. Reid convinced the Democratic Senators to vote more as a bloc on important issues, something which forced the Republicans to abandon their push for privatization of Social Security and instatement of the "nuclear option" to end judicial filibuster. The Senate did not vote on either proposal.

Factions

Centrists

Centrist Democrats identify with centrism and compromise. Though centrist Democrats differ on a variety of issues, they typically foster a mix of political views and ideas. Compared to other Democratic factions, they're mostly more supportive of the use of military force, and are more willing to end or reduce government sponsored initiatives, as indicated by their support for welfare reform and tax cuts. Prominent centrist Democrats in recent times have included former Arkansas governor and U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton, former First Lady/U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (New York), former U.S. Vice Pres. Al Gore (Tennessee), Gov. Tom Vilsack (Iowa), Gov. Mark Warner (Virginia), U.S. Sens. Joe Biden (Delaware), Joe Lieberman (Connecticut), Harry Reid (Nevada), and former U.S. Sen. John Edwards (North Carolina). This faction of Democrats are also affiliated with the Democratic Leadership Council and are usually referred to as New Democrats.

Progressives

Many progressives are descendants of the New Left of Democratic Presidential candidate/Senator George McGovern of South Dakota; others were involved in the presidential candidacies of Howard Dean and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. Progressive Democratic candidates for public office have had popular support as candidates in urban areas, the Northeast, the Midwest, and among African-Americans nationwide, though they have also been supported by other groups. Unifying issues among progressive Democrats have been opposition to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, opposition to economic and social conservatism, support for universal healthcare and steering the Democratic Party in the direction of being a more forceful opposition party. Compared to other factions of the party, they've been most critical of the Republican Party, and most supportive of social and economic equality. Progressive Democrats have included Kucinich, Congressman John Conyers (Michigan), Congressman/civil rights activist John Lewis (Georgia), and late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone (Minnesota).

Labor

One of the most important parts of the Democratic Party coalition is the labor vote. They supply a great deal of the money, grass roots political organization and base of support for the party. While Union membership has fallen over the last four decades, the labor union component of the party is still very important. The Union vote tends to be more protectionist than centrists in the party. The labor wing is concerned with issues such as the minimum wage, as well as protection of pensions, collective bargaining and access to health insurance. Prominent members of this wing include Andy Stern of SEIU. Other important union organizations in the Democratic coalition include AFSCME, UAW, and the AFL-CIO. Most of the members in this faction tend to identify more with the progressive faction of the party.

Liberals

Liberal Democrats are to the left of centrist Democrats. The liberal faction was dominant in the party for several decades, until centrist forces asserted primary control. Compared to conservatives and moderates, liberal Democrats generally have advocated fair trade and other less conservative economic policies, and a less militaristic foreign policy, and have a reputation of being more forceful in pushing for civil liberties. Liberals are increasingly identified as being part of the larger progressive wing of the party. Prominent liberal Democrats include U.S. Sens. Russ Feingold (Wisconsin), Ted Kennedy (Massachusetts) and Tom Harkin (Iowa) and House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (California).

Conservatives

The Democratic Party was once a very conservative party, with a very influential Southern wing, though this changed as conservatives started to join the Republican Party. Many on the conservative wing of the party were referred to by terms such as "yellow dog Democrats", "boll weevils", "Dixiecrats", and "Reagan Democrats". Conservatives who left the party were known to make candidacies against Democrats who desired ethnic integration; some went as far as to establish third parties in order to run against other Democrats in general elections. Eventually, most of the once large conservative faction switched to the Republican Party as it became more conservative in the late 60s and 70s. There remains, however, a viable conservative wing of the Democratic Party, one which was mostly southern. These Democrats have consisted typically of moderate conservatives who feel the Republican Party does not share the values they hold most important; these mostly include conservatives who disagree with the Republican Party's conservative views on trade, taxes and civil rights, who are critical of the policies and actions of the administration of George W. Bush, and who identify with the populism of past Democratic icons. Prominent conservative Democrats of recent time include U.S. Senators Ben Nelson (Nebraska) and Mary Landrieu (Louisiana) and Congressmen Ike Skelton (Missouri), Gene Taylor (Mississippi), Colin Peterson (Minnesota), and Jim Marshall (Georgia).

Notable groups

There are several ideological groups within the modern-day Democratic Party. As the party is made up of several groups with different ideologies, several sub-groups within the party have been set up to promote the ideologies each respective group holds. Although some of these factions do not have official organizations representing them, they are often well-represented within the party. African Americans have voted consistently for Democratic Party candidates in the 85 to 90% range, and as such can be considered a faction in the party. Democratic African American leadership coalesces around the Congressional Black Caucus and civil rights activists and is generally considered liberal in outlook. Senator Barack Obama, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Congressman John Conyers are prominent leaders of this faction. The Democracy for America (DFA) political action committee generally supports fiscally responsible and socially progressive candidates at all levels of government. It was founded by ex-Vermont Governor and current Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean during his presidential campaign; its current Chairman is James H. Dean, Howard Dean's brother. The DFA fights against the influence of the far-right on American politics and works to rebuild the Democratic Party "from the bottom up". One of the most influential factions is the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), an influential non-profit organization that advocates centrist positions for the party. Members often self-identify under the word "New Democrat". Centrist party leaders founded the DLC in response to the landslide victory of Republican candidate Ronald Reagan over Democratic candidate Walter Mondale during the 1984 presidential election, believing the Democratic Party needed to reform its political philosophy if it was to ever retake the White House, a goal which had eluded the party since the 1976 election of Jimmy Carter. The DLC hails President Bill Clinton as proof of the viability of third way politicians and a DLC success story. However, critics contend that the DLC is effectively a powerful, corporate-financed mouthpiece within the Democratic Party that acts to keep Democratic Party candidates and platforms sympathetic to corporate interests and the interests of the wealthy. During the 20th century, this included the interests of finance capital with the involvement of the U.S. political families of Kennedy, Rockefeller and Roosevelt. The DLC was founded and continues to be led by Al From. Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa is the current chairman. The 21st Century Democrats is a political organization active since 2000 in assisting candidates it describes as "progressive" or "populist" in winning elections. Its strategy puts emphasis on training large numbers of organizers to work at the grassroots level and targeting specific campaigns it sees as important. It has strong ties to veterans of campaigns for the late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone. The Congressional Progressive Caucus or CPC is a caucus of progressive Democrats, along with one independent, in the U.S. Congress. It is the single largest Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives, although it currently has no members from the Senate. Well-known members include Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The CPC advocates universal health care, fair trade agreements, living wage laws, the right of all workers to organize into trade unions and engage in strike actions and collective bargaining, the abolition of significant portions of the USA PATRIOT Act, the formation of a Department of Peace, the legalization of gay marriage, strict campaign finance reform laws, a complete pullout from the war in Iraq, a crackdown on corporate crime and what they see as corporate welfare, an increase in income tax on the wealthy, tax cuts for the poor, and an increase in welfare spending by the federal government. [http://bernie.house.gov/pc/issues.asp] [http://www.house.gov/lee/CongressionalProgressiveCaucus/] As a key source of political contributions, volunteers, and field organizing expertise, Organized Labor holds significant sway in the Democratic Party. Former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt was a leading supporter of labor in Congress. Trade unions have often been a considerable source of support for the party, and several elections were lost when the Democratic candidates were viewed as less than sufficiently supportive of their interests. Civil libertarians also often support the Democratic Party because its positions on such issues as civil rights and separation of church and state are more closely aligned to their own than the positions of the Republican Party, and because the Democrats' economic agenda may be more appealing to them than that of the Libertarian Party. They oppose the "War on Drugs," protectionism, corporate welfare, immigration restrictions, governmental borrowing, and an interventionist foreign policy. The Democratic Freedom Caucus is an organised group of this faction. The Blue Dog Democrats are a congressional caucus of fiscal and social conservatives and moderates, primarily southerners, willing to broker compromises with the Republican leadership. They have acted as a unified voting bloc in the past, giving its thirty members some ability to change legislation. The name appears to be both a reference to several well-known Louisiana paintings featuring blue dogs, as well as a reference to the old "yellow dog" Democrats having been "choked blue." Traditionally, the color blue has been associated with conservative ideals, contributing to the caucus' name. The Progressive Democrats of America lends itself to the progressive ideology within the party. Founded by members of Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, it does not hold much sway in the Democratic Party, being considered more radically liberal than other factions.

Issues

The principles and values of any political party are difficult to define and apply generally to all members of the party. Some members may disagree with one or more plank of their party's platform. On the budget, the Democrats in the 2004 platform swore to halve the yearly federal budget deficit by 2009. They stated that they seek "a Constitutional version of the line-item veto to make it easier to root out pork-barrel spending." On a major issue affecting civil liberties, the USA PATRIOT Act, the Democratic agenda is to "change the portions of the Patriot Act that threaten individual rights, such as the library provisions." They further explained in their platform, "Our government should never round up innocent people only because of their religion or ethnicity, and we should never stifle free expression." The party is against racial profiling in the war against terror. On crime, Democrats place more focus on methods of prevention of crime rather than on what penalties are applied to crimes. They emphasize improved community policing and more on-duty police officers in order to help accomplish that. Their platforms for 2000 and 2004 also cite crackdowns on gangs and drug trafficking as preventive methods. The 2004 platform also calls for rehabilitation for prisoners, in order to "reintegrate former prisoners into our communities as productive citizens." Their platforms have also particularly addressed the issue of domestic violence, calling for strict penalties for offenders and protections for victims. On equality and nondiscrimination, citing that "a day's work is worth a day's pay," and that on average a woman continues to earn 77% of what a man does, the Democrats call for laws for equal pay. The Democrats wish to uphold the Americans with Disabilities Act to prohibit discrimination against people on the basis of physical or mental disability. The Democrats cite affirmative action as a method with which to redress past discrimination and to ensure equitable employment regardless of ethnicity or gender. On gay marriage, many Democrats have publicly supported civil unions or same sex marriage, but it is not yet an official position of the party as a whole, or any of the members of the party leadership in Congress. The legal standing of gay marriage is a subject of debate within the Democratic Party. In the campaigns for the Party