that makes such a possibility much less likely: they never can get into the kind of lockstep that is needed to pull off the "winning is everything" mindset (just witness the clockwork regularity of the DU circular firing squads

Second, the Democratic party has too many different disparate interests for any one goal to receive too much enthusiasm from all (activist) segments anyway, fortunately!

I think the party's culture is such that it glories too much in its rationality and its diversity to ever get locked into one position.

It is the attitude of the people/leaders of the Dem party that even prompts me to call myself a Democrat -- I actually disagree with many positions of the party, but I sense a willingness to listen that makes it attractive to me.