Nerd, from my perspective I didn't distort anything. McCarthy's 42% showing was considered a victory by the anti-war wing of the party, big time.

Not every Democrat in 1968 wanted RFK, and from my perspective, that seems to be what you are saying. Once RFK turned down the anti-war wing of the party (regarding being the standard bearer for the party's anti-war wing in the election) the anti-war wing of the party backed the man who actually had the guts to stand up to LBJ and the party establishment--McCarthy. RFK was a rank opportunist to jump in after LBJ's announcement, and he did not have the support of the true anti-war wing of the party because of his duplicitousness regarding them and their anti-war platform, and because it was his brother who had started the war to begin with.

And Don, while agree with much of what yer man says, I really don't need another lecture from someone telling me that we don't have a proportional representation system here. So what? I also resent being told that we should all just work within the two party system, to cure all the ills that ail us. To that I say, pure and simple, bullshit. Progressives have been doing just that for the better part of the last 30 years, and look where it has gotten us. Here and now.

I'm sorry, but I just don't agree with this guy's conclusions. We more or less agree on what the problems are, but I really disagree strongly with the solution he offers, which is:

"Thus, the best immediate solution to advance the progressive agenda is for progressives to join and take back the Democratic Party, in the same way conservatives seized control of the Republican Party."

I disagree fundamentally that this is the best idea. I am simply not that shortsighted. I think our country is strong enough to endure another 4 years of Bush/Cheney, and that what we really need to focus on is the crisis in governance being caused by the Democratic Party's failure to thrive. In the past, this has meant a whole new party has been formed out of the ashes of the old one.

I also believe that electoral reform in many areas is in our future too. Reforms like instant run-off voting, changing the way redistricting is done (ie let a computer do it, not politicians), throwing out the current electoral college system and starting from scratch on a way to make some hybrid of our current system and the proportional representation system work for those citizens who would otherwise become disenfranchised due to population loss/change (like rural states, crumbling inner cities, etc). There is a lot we can do to change the nation for the better. But having all progressives join the Democratic party is not on my list of solutions. I want to see the party die, and be reborn as a new party. That, I believe, is the best hope for the US.