Democratic Platform Assails Administration

DeLauro said the decision to avoid a declaration of whether the war was right or wrong reflected the party's desire to be forward-looking. "This is not a backward-looking document," she said.

She also took issue with a suggestion that the party is divided about whether to stay the course in Iraq. She said Kerry has been explicit about the necessity to stay as long as necessary and said others in the party agree. "The party is not divided on that issue," she said.

But the platform committee may be challenged in Miami by allies of Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has not ended his presidential candidacy, to amend the document by calling for an early withdrawal from Iraq.

Seeking to show that Democrats can be trusted to fight terrorism, the platform repeatedly pledges a comprehensive and aggressive set of anti-terrorism policies. At the same time, it attempts to walk a fine line between the political need to demonstrate toughness and the desire to emphasize international cooperation, in contrast to Bush's policies.

In his State of the Union address in January, Bush said he would not wait for "a permission slip" from other countries before taking steps to defend the United States, an implicit criticism of Democrats' call for collective action. The platform says, "With John Kerry as commander-in-chief, we will never wait for a green light from abroad when our safety is at stake, but we must enlist those whose support we need for ultimate victory."

The draft says the Bush administration has no coherent plan for defending the homeland, argues for a major drive to make the country independent from Middle East oil and, in that context, calls for ending cooperation with governments that do not share U.S. values. It does not name any countries, but that line appears aimed at Saudi Arabia.

On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the platform calls for creation of a Palestinian state, the first time the Democrats have done so in their platform, one official said. But it hews closely to the pro-Israel line Kerry has staked out, showing strong support for the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The domestic section of the platform focuses heavily on jobs, health care and education.

"President Bush and the Republicans in Congress have ignored the middle class since day one," the draft says. "They have catered to the wealth of the richest instead of honoring the work of the rest of us. They have promised almost everything and paid for almost nothing."

Among the proposals are Kerry's tax plan to discourage companies from moving jobs overseas, his plan to expand health care coverage, his college tuition tax credits and his recommendation for more spending on elementary and secondary education.

Republicans have repeatedly challenged Kerry to prove that he can pay for all his proposals and still cut the deficit in half in four years, as he has pledged. The draft platform does not answer that question, in part because it contains no spending estimates.

DeLauro said the platform is a statement of values and principles, not a budget plan. But she defended the party's record, saying, "Democrats were able to get our fiscal house in order" under President Bill Clinton. Republicans say Clinton never would have balanced the budget without pressure from a Republican-controlled Congress.

On social issues, the draft document pledges to reverse Bush's limit on stem cell research and criticizes the president for proposing to amend the Constitution to bar same-sex marriages.

On the two big entitlement programs that face strain as the baby-boom generation retires, Social Security and Medicare, the platform pledges to fight efforts to privatize either and, while promising reform, offers no specifics other than to say that the best thing for Social Security is a return to fiscal discipline. For Medicare, the platform calls for expanded coverage for prescription drugs and an attack on waste and abuse.