http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/politics/campaign/20platform.html?pagewanted=print&position=SANTA FE, N.M., June 19 - More than two dozen witnesses, from former cabinet secretaries to unemployed textile workers, spent hours on Friday attacking President Bush's domestic policies and no time squabbling among themselves in the last of three public hearings to help the Democratic Party write its 2004 national platform.
There were no flare-ups, rude banners or angry disagreements. Not even a whisper of discontent. It was a far cry from the days when Democrats regularly savaged one another over issues like the Vietnam War, civil rights and abortion.
"That's due to such an overwhelming flood of feeling in the party at the moment that we've got to trim our differences and do whatever is necessary to beat Bush," said Don Fowler, a South Carolina lawyer and former national Democratic Party chairman who was among those listening in the audience. "It's not as much fun this way, but I've never seen the party so united."
The polite and sparsely attended event - the audience never exceeded two dozen - took place here in the gymnasium at the Indian School, established in 1890 to educate the children of American Indians.
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