Democrats held out hope this afternoon that more moderate Republicans will follow Senator James Jeffords of Vermont and abandon the Republican Party, which they said had drifted too far to the right in recent years.
Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat and Al Gore's running mate in last year's presidential election, said President George W Bush has governed much more from the right of mainstream and has been very partisan in Cabinet selections and other matters.
He singled out John Ashcroft and Gale Norton, Bush's choices to head the Justice and Interior departments to illustrate the GOP's move to the right.
"Unless the party comes back to the mainstream and stops punishing dissent they may lose more members and the support of the American people, Lieberman said on Fox News Sunday.