Eleanor Clift stakes her Dem hopes on my junior senator (I know that shocks you): “Hillary thinks the path back to power lies in reclaiming the third-way centrism her husband championed.”

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Bush faces a steeper challenge on Social Security reform than Clinton did on health care. Both parties understand the power of the issue to transform the electorate in the ‘06 congressional elections. Polling data by Democracy Corps and others show overwhelming opposition to Bush’s plan among seniors, along with a high degree of skepticism that Republicans can be trusted to do the right thing on a social program their party historically opposed. Given those attitudes, Democrats are united for now in opposing Bush’s plan, but that won’t be enough to revive the party. A fighting spirit is fine, but ultimately the Democrats have to figure out how to make progressivism palatable again to the American people. Republicans have a 28-point advantage over Democrats in “knowing what they stand for.” By reaching out to the other side on a difficult issue like abortion, Hillary has begun the necessary task of defining a new politics that will be difficult for the Republicans to ridicule.