Let me explain something to some of the dis-enchanted liberal Dean supporters on this site. The GOP is the party of conservatives, this we all agree on. The Democratic Party is the party of everyone else, not just liberals. If you want the liberal equivalent to the republicans, you want the Green Party. The idealogy of the Democratic Party is by and large moderate and what you will find on a number of hot button issues like the FMA and Iraq is that Independents views look a lot like the Democrats' views.
About two-thirds of registered Republicans call themselves "conservative". Only about one-third of Democrats describe themselves as "liberal". In fact there are a fair number of Dems who consider themselves conservative, but they are mostly moderate. Think about John McCain, he's considered a maverick in his party for being moderate. The mavericks of the Democratic Party are by and large very liberal. The notion that the Democrats should pander to their liberal base the way Repugs pander to their conservative base is nonsense, they're not the same thing.
It's not unfair to liberals, they are a minority. They rank a distant third behind Moderates and Conservatives in the political spectrum. If Kerry has a problem in the general election, it's that he is too liberal. Someone from the "Wellstone" wing of the party would have a George McGovern like result in the general election. This is also why there were "Reagan Democrats", Mondale is in that Paul Wellstone progressive mold. We will never see an exodus like that from the Republican party in the near future. That's why they fall in line, they know what they're getting, a straight-up conservative with few strings attached.