Party Seeks One Voice. Schumer Steps Forward.

By artappraiser on Tue, 03/15/2011 - 5:33pm |

By Jennifer Steinhauser and Raymond Hernandez, New York Times, March 15, 2011, 2:24pm

Home page lede: Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York is responsible for honing the Democrats’ message and reconciling it with party policies.

Excerpt:....Mr. Schumer must weigh the hopes and dreams of his most liberal members, who crave open ideological battle with Republicans, while watching the backs of moderates, who are pushing for their own deficit-reduction narrative.

“Getting everyone in the tent is hard,” said Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri. “Getting everyone to speak with one voice is near impossible.”

What is more, Mr. Schumer’s attempt to verbally smack around Republicans has frequently been cold-shouldered by the White House, where President Obama has been repositioning himself.....

URL:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/us/politics/16schumer.html