Utah Democrats strike gay rights from party platform, B1.The Democratic Party circulated a draft platform Friday that reflects the anger and frustration driving politics this year as well as the themes and programs of its nominee-to-be, Bill Clinton.
"We call for a revolution in government - to take power away from the entrenched bureaucracies and narrow interests in Washington and put it back in the hands of communities, families and citizens," the document says.The draft document promises that the party will "get things done by ending the gridlock" that Americans complain has paralyzed their government and fueled problems.
Democrats were holding a two-day meeting here to finalize their platform. Party officials stressed that the draft was preliminary. "I expect this to change," said spokeswoman Ginny Terzano.
Clinton's representative on the drafting committee is Al From, founder of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council that Clinton once chaired. Representatives of Clinton's vanquished rivals, Paul Tsongas and Jerry Brown, also were on the panel.
Party chairman Ron Brown said Democrats are "more unified than we've been in two decades" going into the general election. "We haven't had the kind of ideological splits that have torn our party asunder" in the past, he said.
The Arkansas governor's themes and proposals, many of them strongly identified with the DLC, dominate the party document - particularly his calls for a new covenant between the American people and their government and for more personal responsibility by everyone form business executives to welfare families.
The draft also borrows the Republican law-and-order theme and has a section on military force.
Missing so far from this year's draft platform are two things that were included in 1988: calls for pay equity for women in the workplace and indexing the minimum wage.
"The fact that this group is united behind this type of platform means that the old labels of right and left don't work anymore," said Bruce Reed, Clinton's issues director. He said the 1992 platform is "bolder and more substantive" than the 1988 version.
The first specific proposals in the document are for an investment tax credit and a targeted capital gains tax reduction for long-term investments in new business.
In other campaign news:
- Ross Perot on Friday earned spots on the this fall's presidential election ballots in New Hampshire and North Carolina, bringing to 14 the number of states where his name is to appear, including Utah.
- Clinton staged a nationally televised forum with undecided voters Friday night in Pittsburgh, promising to end Washington gridlock with an aggressive domestic agenda that included national health care and campaign finance reform.