White House Advisers Hoping Dems Shift Farther To The Left

White House advisers see signs that majority Democrats in Congress are shifting too far to the left or moving to extreme positions on Iraq and other issues, giving Republicans the potential opening they are looking for.

"The Democrats will overplay their hand," says a GOP strategist. "And this will allow us to go back on offense."

White House insiders say the Democrats are pushing too far and too fast to force President Bush to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities for suspected terrorists, approve pork-barrel projects, and conduct too many investigations into executive branch decision-making. Those insiders say the country will eventually see the Democrats as defeatists and liberals who want to impose their views on Middle America.

"The Democrats are being pushed more and more by their liberal base, and that's good for the Republicans," says a GOP insider.

By Kenneth T. Walsh