Party Officials

NEW ORLEANS -- It is, by many accounts, a springtime for Democrats. President Bush's approval rating has gone down. Gas prices have gone up. And the burning desire for change in Washington, according to recent polls, remains one of the biggest worries for Republicans who control the government. Yet for all the positive political signs for Democrats and for all the opportunities that could propel an out-of-power party back into the majority, Democratic leaders from across the country say it is premature to begin imagining a sweeping victory in the fall elections.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin's telephone began ringing months ago. On the line: representatives of the Democratic presidential contenders soliciting advice on Maryland politics, asking about lessons learned from his 2006 Senate race or just checking in again to gauge his latest thoughts on the campaign. But the callers are after more than his wisdom. As a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention, Cardin will not be bound by the results of next month's Maryland primary election when he casts his vote in Denver this summer, but may back whichever candidate he chooses.

U.S. AUTHORITIES recently appointed former Baath Party leaders to help rebuild Iraq. Shortly afterward, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld announced that senior Baath Party members would not be allowed to retain positions of authority in the new Iraqi administration. The assumption is that, in time, people will step forward, identify appointees who were Baath Party members and those appointees will be removed. There are risks in such assumptions. At the end of World War II, in a similar effort to rebuild a defeated enemy country, U.S. officials released Nazi Party members from prison.

TOKYO -- Japan's governing party has turned its gun against some of its own elected officials, apparently out of mounting fear that mushrooming scandals might break the grip on power it has held since 1955.The party's old-line power brokers have issued an edict many younger members describe as a "gag rule," stripped a junior parliamentarian of a committee membership after he defiantly spoke on television without notifying the elders, and passed informal word that retribution awaits those who fail to push the official version of the latest scandal.

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Democrats like to fashion themselves as latter-day Robert F. Kennedys eradicating poverty and disease, stomping out inequality, getting really "passionate" about single mothers, death row inmates and Arctic wildlife preserves. But the reality is that the party - or, at least, most of the Democrats running for the White House - has shed much of its Kennedyesque idealism. Instead, it's anchored itself to a cartoonish notion of the mid-20th century nanny state sure to alienate millions of young voters.

BEIJING -- As the party chief of a huge iron and steel company, Guan HDeng commanded 80,000 workers. Before investigators finally caught up with him, he also enjoyed two mistresses and a stash of several hundred thousand dollars.As a general manager for one of China's largest overseas construction companies, Liu Guoxiu lived a life of wine, women and song in Thailand. Before he was arrested, he filed six false expense reports, obtaining more than $250,000.As chief cashier of a branch of the Chinese People's Construction Bank in Beijing, Li HD knew how to get money to invest in his private businesses.

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Amid a rollicking bedlam of singing, shouting supporters, Patrick J. Buchanan declared last night, "We have made history again," with a victory in the New Hampshire primary over Sen. Bob Dole that brought stark embarrassment to the Republican establishment.Denouncing his foes for the negative advertising they ran against him, the fiery former news commentator proclaimed: "They did their worst. We did our best. People in New Hampshire voted their hopes, not their fears."

A HAND slides an envelope bulging with money across the top of a desk. A grim-faced bureaucrat sitting on the other side puts it into his pocket. Business as usual in the former Soviet Union.But wait. Business action on the television screen freezes. Prison bars appear, accompanied by the sound of a cell door slamming shut. Cut to the uniformed figure of retired Gen. Alexander Lebed, Russia's version of Colin Powell and leader of one of the 43 parties taking part in the coming parliamentary elections.

TOKYO -- The secretary-general of Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu's governing party resigned yesterday after his candidate for governor of Tokyo took a whipping from an 80-year-old incumbent.Resisting two days of intense pressure to stay on from Mr. Kaifu and the chief power brokers of his own faction within the Liberal Democratic Party, Ichiro Ozawa insisted on taking responsibility for a backfired attempt to dump Gov. Shunichi Suzuki.To cheers of "Banzai!" -- 10,000 years, a traditional Asian wish of long life -- Governor Suzuki savored his lopsided fourth-term win yesterday morning at a victory ceremony at the recently dedicated, twin-towered City Hall.

MEXICO CITY -- Officials investigating the assassination of a leader of the governing party said yesterday that several people might have been involved.They also said that they misidentified a suspect who was detained at the scene of Wednesday's fatal shooting in Mexico City. It was Mexico's second political assassination in six months.Officials say that as many as five people might have conspired in the death of Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, secretary-general of the party and an important ally of President-elect Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon.