Put another way: Do Democrats want to be more like Howard Dean or more like Jim Matheson?

The progressive Vermont firebrand and the moderate Utah congressman represent the two poles of the Democrats' shaky tent, with Dean leading the cry to highlight liberal convictions and Matheson symbolizing success through moderation. While Utah may have given President Bush his largest victory margin in the country, Matheson believes the differential between the percentage of votes he received as the incumbent 2nd District Democrat compared with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry is the widest of any House district in the country.

"Democrats need to reach out and embrace what most of America is, and most of America is moderate," said Matheson, leader-elect of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 34 moderate and conservative Democrats in the House. "I think there is an opportunity to be more clear what the party is about without taking it to the left."

It's a view shared by members of the Democratic Leadership Council, a reform effort within the party that had been chaired by former President Bill Clinton.

"This party has to be the party of Harry Truman and John Kennedy, not the party of Michael Moore," council CEO Al From said Friday during a roundtable on the Democratic Party's future at the National Press Club.

But some Democrats are concerned the party may become, as Dean derided in a speech here earlier this week, "Republican Lite."

"Democrats have to stop being the party of poll-driven positioning and start demonstrating conviction and fighting for it," said Robert Borosage, co-director of Campaign for America's Future, a Democratic group.

Borosage maintains that the activist element of the party will be unified by the second Bush administration term and said "progressives will lead a campaign against what clearly is the most corrupt Congress in history."

But From is pessimistic on the party's chances to gain influence if it keeps going in the same direction. He notes 97 of the 100 fastest-growing counties in the country went Republican in the latest election, as did 26 of the 28 poorest states.

"We need to expand the map," he said. "There are more of them than us."

Not that many more, though, said Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.

"A month ago we had a status quo election, we went from a 49-49 nation to a 51-48 nation," said Rothenberg. "Democrats obviously need to do something, but it's not time to pull their hair out."

Matheson agrees.

"I don't know that these two views are mutually exclusive," he said. "This is a very diverse party and that is one of its great strengths, but it creates many points of view and can make it difficult to articulate a clear identity."