Actually, this captures most of the difference I have with critics of the Democratic Party on this list. It's not that I think the Dems do the right thing all the time; it's just that I am far more convinced that they can be made to do the right thing with the right amount of organizing. And I think other electoral strategies are far less likely to attain the same result.
For all I get portrayed as a Dem-Clinton apologist, I spent much of the 1990s organizing against him on many issues, from NAFTA to welfare reform, probably doing more actual organizing against Clinton than many of his bashers on this list. To me this is the norm of politics-- you don't elect the perfect person, you elect the best person you can, and keep organizing, often against the candidate you campaigned for.
The rhetoric of avoiding the lesser evil is a kind of electoral utopia. Instead of the election being the beginning of organizing, it's seen as a kind of endpoint where organizing is then unneeded afterwards.
I fully expect Kerry to be inadequate on a range of issues. I just expect that my organizing and the organizing of other progressives will be more effective with him in the Presidency than Bush. The rest of the story will be up to the strength of progressive organizers to be effective.
nathan Newman