All of this talk about the “left wing” (Gore, Dean) of the Democratic Party versus the “centrist wing” (Clinton, Clinton, Lieberman & Clark) strikes me as a symptom of the shrinking nature of the Democratic Party as a whole. When you lose power you lose the need to make compromises, to maintain coalitions. Purity matters more and therefore there’s less room for diversity in part because there’s less need of diversity. The Gore/Dean Vs. Clinton/Clinton battle may be about power, but it is basically the sort of conflict which can only take place in a party unburdened with the need to govern.