Kos has taken to referring to himself as a reform Democrat. I find this interesting because it reminds me a little bit of Woodrow Wilson.
Much of Wilson's Presidency actually mirrors President Bush's -- in fact eerily so. However, Wilson's campaign, particularly his campaign for New Jersey Governor, was based on running against his own party.
He separated himself from his party by focusing on his progressive values and railing against a Democratic leadership that had grown stale and corrupt.
Wilson was able to pull this off because he didn't have a record of public service to run on and because he was a great orator. But, there is no reason we, as a party, could not do it again.
I've commented before that Democratic candidates in 2006 need to do the same thing the Republican did in 1994 -- run one on unified platform, and run as a group, not as individual candidates.
I still think that is a good idea, but I wonder if it wouldn't be bad idea to incorporate an implicit rebuff of the establishment of the Democratic party leadership as well as the Republican party. Sort of like triangulation: The Democratic leadership is incompetant and disorganized, the Republican leadership is corrupt. Our group of candidates provides a fresh alternative to government as usual and a fresh start for the Democratic party.
Just a thought...take it for what it is worth.