IF YOU BELIEVE IN NEW DEMOCRATISM IT'S TIME TO BECOME A NEW REPUBLICAN:

Democrat to Appeal to Swing Voters (Maura Reynolds, September 1, 2004, LA Times)

The speech Sen. Zell Miller delivers tonight will be the first time a Democrat has delivered the Republicans' keynote address. It will also be the political swan song for the 72-year-old former governor of Georgia.

Miller, an old-fashioned Southern Democrat, was reared in an Appalachian hollow where it was said that a yellow dog could get elected sooner than a Republican. He was a strong supporter of President Clinton and delivered the keynote address at the Democratic convention in 1992.

But since he entered the Senate in 2000, he has racked up a voting record more conservative than many of his Republican colleagues. He insists that he hasn't moved away from the Democratic Party — the party has moved away from him.

"I never dreamed that the party was as far left as it is until I went to Washington," Miller said Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show.

Miller's job at the convention is to further the party's appeal to independents and swing voters, and he will deliver a speech explaining why he believes Democrats should vote for President Bush.

Finally a pro-life Democrat gets to speak at a convention.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 1, 2004 9:48 AM