Inside Politics

A liberal profile

“Here are two things we learned [Tuesday night]. First, Barack Obama is going to almost certainly be the Democratic [presidential] nominee. He’s withstood seven weeks of bad news, and he still exceeded expectations,” David Brooks writes in a blog at www.nytimes.com.

“The second thing we learned is that this general election is going to look nothing like the last two. Those elections were base-mobilization elections. The candidates did little to upset party orthodoxy or move dramatically toward the center. That won’t work this time,” Mr. Brooks said.

“The extended primary season has changed the profile of Obama supporters. Back in Iowa, he seemed to gather post-partisan and bipartisan support. He was strong among independents. But if you look at the exit polls from [Tuesday] and from the recent primaries, one thing leaps out at you: The further left you go, the more support Obama gets. The more centrist a voter is, the less likely he or she is to support him. Once upon a time, Obama had strong support from wide swathes of very religious people. Now he has wide swathes of support among secular voters.

“Obama has a much more liberal profile than he did several weeks ago. Moderate, independent voters are now less sure that Obama shares their values. Hillary Clinton voters are much, much more hostile toward him. His supporters look more and more like the McGovern-Dukakis constituency, and the walls between that constituency and the rest of the country are higher than they were weeks ago.”

Rendell for veep

“The notion that Barack Obama should pick Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate is crazy,” Fred Barnes writes at www.weeklystandard.com.

“She passes the first test of a veep selection: she’s a plausible president. But she fails the second. She doesn’t qualify as a partner on the Democratic ticket (and possibly in the White House) that Obama would be comfortable with — far from it,” Mr. Barnes said.

“But there is someone who does meet these two requirements, plus a third one and maybe a fourth. That person is Democratic Gov. Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania. Yes, Rendell was the leading supporter of Clinton when she trounced Obama in the Pennsylvania presidential primary last month. But he’s a smart, tough, and respected politician who would no doubt embrace Obama eagerly, fully, and loyally. …

“What would Rendell, 64, bring to the ticket? As governor of a major state, he’s automatically a national political figure. He’s also a former general chairman of the Democratic National Committee, which means he’s a party man who gets along with Democrats of all types. …

“Obama starts from a weak position in [Pennsylvania]. In losing the primary, he fared poorly among Catholics, working-class women, and downscale white voters. Rendell would corral them for Obama, most of them anyway.”

Two parties in one

“There are two main parts of the Democratic Party,” longtime party operative James Carville writes in the Financial Times.

“The first and fastest growing is what I refer to (somewhat uncreatively) as ’Party A’ Democrats. Party A Democrats tend to be urban or suburban. They are traditionally better educated, white, more affluent, heavily female, socially liberal and reform-oriented. Examples are candidates such as Adlai Stevenson, Eugene McCarthy, Gary Hart, Mike Dukakis, Paul Tsongas, Bill Bradley and Howard Dean,” Mr. Carville said.

“The other side of the party is a more broad coalition of working-class people who are generally less affluent, less educated and look to the federal government to soften the harsher edges of capitalism. They tend to be either urban or rural. I refer to them as ’Party B’ Democrats. They favor increased funding for federal programs from Medicare to unemployment compensation to subsidized student loans.

“This wing of the party has included [labor] unions, older voters, African-Americans and non-college-educated young voters. Party B Democrats have been much more responsive to classic ’I’m on your side’ Democratic rhetoric. Candidates from this faction include Harry Truman, Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, Bill Clinton and (uncomfortable as he seemed in this ideological space) Al Gore.

“In the past, the less affluent, pro-government wing of the party has consistently won. But what makes this race so wonderfully complex and textured is that Barack Obama, an almost prototype Party A Democrat, reaches right into Party B and yanks out African-Americans — a group that makes up almost a quarter of the Democratic Party.

“Hillary Clinton, whose message is almost exclusively Party B, pulls a significant vote among older, educated white women, who most of their lives have been firmly in the Party A camp. Those who dismiss this as identity politics fundamentally underestimate the impact — an impact that could be felt long beyond 2008 — of this contradiction within a contradiction in the traditional factions of the Democratic base.”

Romney’s award

The Becket Fund For Religious Liberty tonight will present its highest honor, the Canterbury Medal, to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, “for their role in expanding the free expression of religious faith in the public square.”

Each year the Becket Fund awards the Canterbury Medal to someone who has “resolutely refused to render unto Caesar that which is God’s.”

The group cites Mr. Romney’s speech on the role of religion in political life, at a time when some said his Mormon faith was a fatal handicap in the Republican presidential race. The Becket Fund cites that speech as an important contribution to religious liberty and the national political discourse.

“Both Governor and Mrs. Romney have demonstrated exemplary poise and dignity in the face of all manner of provocations aimed at their faith. For these reasons and more, the Becket Fund is delighted to present the Romneys with the Canterbury Medal at this year’s dinner” in New York City, the group said.

• Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or gpierce@washingtontimes.com.