Word: litmus
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...Democratic Party, described the 1972 Democratic Convention as out of touch with ordinary Americans. The New Presidential Elite argued that Democrats under McGovern were more interested in ideological purity than in winning, more concerned with being "correct" than with being inclusive. It was a party of rectitude and litmus tests. By contrast, the Republicans spread a big tent: "Less intense, less holistic ideologically, and deeply attached to party, the cultural conservative focused more on building party unity and winning elections than on articulating correct issue positions -- not because he was uninterested in policy, but because he was also strongly attached...
...power as a litmus test, abortion is unusual, Kaminer says. Strong opinions on abortion can induce voters to abandon their party loyalties...
...Caught between the two groups, Bush had to speak softly. Yes, he approved that part of the court's ruling that allows states to impose new restrictions on abortion. No, he would not base his next court selection on the nominee's abortion views, "because that would be a litmus test . . . and I don't want that." Yet the 1988 G.O.P. platform promised that standard, and the 1992 version will probably do the same...
...playing tournaments I had won before," Fraiberg says, "and I wasn't doing well. It was a real litmus test. The problems by then were both mental and physical...
...beginning, orthodox Democrats regularly and inaccurately derided the group as a collection of "Southern white boys" who too often failed the traditional litmus tests by voting "wrong" on issues like aid to the Nicaraguan contras and affirmative action. No one called them racists to their face, but an ugly, derisive undertone invariably accompanied the attacks. Two efforts eventually won respect for the D.L.C., which now has chapters in 27 states, 19 full-time staff members and a $2.5 million annual budget. The first, a scathing post-1988 election analysis, elaborated the nation's new political arithmetic. "By the old math...