Democrats

Democrats:
 * 1) Joseph Biden -- senator from Delaware
 * 2) Hillary Clinton -- senator from New York
 * 3) Christopher Dodd -- senator from Connecticut
 * 4) John Edwards -- former senator from North Carolina
 * 5) Mike Gravel -- former senator from Alaska
 * 6) Dennis Kucinich -- representative from Ohio
 * 7) Barack Obama -- senator from Illinois
 * 8) Bill Richardson -- governor of New Mexico
 * 9) Tom Vilsack -- governor of Iowa (since withdrawn)

Democrats and Repiblicans are different in many ways:

The basic difference is that Republicans follow a conservative philosophy and Democrats follow a liberal philosophy. A liberal would say that a proper role for government is to regulate and oversee the economy. Liberals say it's proper for government to ensure that companies do the right thing (such as pay minimum wages), and to ensure that people act responsibly in their finances.

A conservative would say that a proper role for government is to regulate and oversee morality. Conservatives say it's proper for government to ensure that people are punished for immoral acts (such as taking drugs), and that people act appropriately in their marriages (such as banning homosexual marriage).

A libertarian would say that neither of those is a proper role for government. Libertarians say that the only proper role is to maintain an army for defense against invasion, to maintain a court system for ensuring justice, and other constitutionally defined roles.

A populist would say that both economic and moral intervention are proper roles for government.

Some people classify libertarians as conservatives and some classify populists as liberals. Those definitions fall apart when libertarians talk about moral issues like abortion (pro-choice) or drugs (pro-legalization).

Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan both consider themselves "populists," but the press usually classifies Nader as liberal and Buchanan as conservative. Yet they agree entirely on their most important issue, opposing free trade and globalization.

The problem with a one-dimensional definition like liberal and conservative is that it doesn't define well political reality. The two-dimensional definition is better.

> The **Democratic Party** is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in the United States and arguably the oldest party in the world. > Since the 2006 midterm elections the Democratic Party is the majority party for the 110th Congress; > The Democratic Party traces its origins to the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson. Since the division of the Republican Party in the election of 1912, it has consistently positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party in economic as well as social matters. The economically left-leaning activist philosophy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, which has strongly influenced American liberalism, has shaped much of the party's economic agenda since 1932. > > > Initially calling itself the "Republican Party," Jeffersonians were labeled "Democratic" by the opposition Federalists, with the hope of stigmatizing them as purveyors of democracy or mob rule. By the Jacksonian era, the term "The Democracy" was in use by the party; the name "Democratic Party" was eventually settled upon. In the 20th and 21st centuries, "Democrat Party" is a political epithet that is sometimes used by opponents to refer to the party. The current official name of the party is the "Democratic Party." > The most common symbol for the party is the donkey, although the party itself never officially adopted this symbol. The origins of this symbol are unknown, but several theories have been proposed. According to one theory, in its original form, the jackass was born in the intense mudslinging that occurred during the presidential race of 1828 in which Andrew Jackson was sometimes called a jackass by his opponents. A political cartoon depicting Jackson riding and directing a donkey (representing the Democratic Party) was published in 1837. The donkey is the symbol for the Democratic Party. > Although both major political parties and many minor ones use the traditional American red, white, and blue colors in their marketing and representations, since election night 2000 the color blue has become the identified color of the Democratic Party, while the color red has become the identified color of the Republican Party. That night, for the first time, all major broadcast television networks used the same color scheme for the electoral map. Since then, the color blue has been widely used by the media to represent the party, as blue is the traditional color of the right and red the color of the left outside of the United States. > The song "Happy Days Are Here Again" is the unofficial song of the Democratic Party. It was used prominently when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was nominated for president at the 1932 Democratic National Convention and remains a sentimental favorite for Democrats today. More recently, the emotionally similar song "Beautiful Day" by the band U2 has become a favorite theme song for Democratic candidates. John Kerry used the song during his 2004 presidential campaign, and it was used as a celebratory tune by several Democratic Congressional candidates in 2006. > > > > [|www.wikipedia.com]