Democrats from around the country have gathered in Broward County to debate their party's campaign platform.
BY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@herald.com
PARTY STANCES
As Democrats from around the country arrived in South Florida on Friday to put the finishing touches on a party platform that takes President Bush to task for what it calls a ''dangerously ineffective disregard for the world,'' critics from both sides lined up to take shots at the document.
Republicans suggested that the platform seeks to mask what they said is Kerry's liberal voting record in the U.S. Senate, while progressives urged platform writers to call for an end to the war in Iraq -- or risk alienating antiwar activists who want an exit strategy and an admission that ``it was a mistake to invade Iraq.''
STANCE ON WAR
The draft of the document -- it will be fine-tuned at a day-long hearing today at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa -- doesn't call for an end to the war. Nor does it suggest that the war was an error. Both Kerry and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, voted for the war but have criticized Bush's handling of it.
''This administration went into Iraq without a plan to win the peace,'' the document states, but adds, ``Having gone to war, we cannot afford to fail at peace.''
more:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/9121920.htm?ERIGHTS=3166761753472778359miami