'Able Democrats, but left-wing all the way'

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This is the second of three exclusive excerpts from Sen. Zell Miller's new book, "A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat" (Stroud & Hall, Atlanta).The Georgia Democrat, governor from 1991 to 1999, won a special election after the death of Sen. Paul Coverdell, a Republican, in 2000.

Lord, those current presidential candidates in my party.

They are good, smart and able folks, but if I decided to follow any one of them down their road, I'd have to keep my left-turn signal blinking and burning brightly all the way.

All left turns may work on the racetrack, but it is pulling our Democratic Party in a dangerous direction.

Whenever the Democratic candidates encounter a political action committee, they preen and flex their six-pack abs for these special-interest groups, which I call "the Groups," like bodybuilders in a Mr. Universe contest.

Or perhaps more appropriately I should compare them to streetwalkers in skimpy halters and hot pants, plying their age-old trade for the fat wallets on K Street.

Just look at them. They are convinced most Americans will like what they see:

John Edwards, shooting brightly through the skies like Halley's Comet.

Joe Lieberman, steadily and surely plodding along, one labored step at a time, like Aesop's tortoise.