Jack Murtha, a close ally of Nancy Pelosi, is seeking the majority (you know, if they get it) leader position. Talk about a "national" campaign! Vote Democrat, and you will get grandpa (with the requisite war stories) as well. It is not too pleasing to read about his conservative side, including the fact he is against abortion, and I don't know about having someone so "last generation" as leader. Maybe, he can be a bridge, but should we not have someone more forward looking? He does offer a strong voice, while the other likely option also leaves something to be desired. See here.
It is sometimes said that we are more alike than we are different, which is true in various ways, and can be shown by the assorted conservative opposition to: torture, executive overreaching, anti-gay marriage amendments, and fiscal craziness. Likewise, there are some strange bedfellows in the whole net neutrality thing ("common carrier" metaphor seems to work best) and foreign policy -- if not always for the same reasons. Thus, liberals can nod in agreement with, if not share the whole mind-set behind, this sentiment:
The purpose of U.S.-Israeli policy today is to punish the Palestinians for how they voted and to force Hamas to yield or to collapse its government. How does such a policy win hearts and minds for America?
Terrorism has been described as waging war on innocents to break their political leaders. Is that not a fair description of what we are doing to the Palestinians? No wonder they hate us.
-- Patrick J. Buchanan
A participant at the "Yearly Kos" convention made a telling point that President Bush is basically purely a "Republican" president, not one for the people at large. This is a damning thing, especially since many "conservative" issues cross party lines. The base is always important, but the winner is also able to get the middle and even some of the other side on their side. As suggested, this is not as hard for progressives as some make it out to be.
Yes, even those who think the way to go is to move Right or not make waves. In the end, this in fact can be quite counterproductive. To take a biblical metaphor, consider the parable about the person who just buries his money in a hole, playing it totally safe. Jesus rightly did not think too much of that sentiment.