Is there a difference between one Democratic candidate and another? Or has the electoral system leveled the field, so that it always and only comes down to money and powerful friends? For the first time in many years, the Democratic Party contenders-those who want to be president, and those who are impacting the terms of the public discussion-are placing issues and identity at the forefront of their campaigns. A black man and a woman are both viable candidates. A populist from the South and a progressive from Cleveland are propelling the party from the center to a more liberal platform. A vice president makes a comeback. But we still have to wonder-and worry-if any of them has what it takes to turn the system around and begin to dig us out of the quagmire that this country has created at home and abroad. Some of the nation's wittiest and best-informed commentators look beyond the campaign promises, the mudslinging, and the personal testimony to present another side of the story: Will any of these politicians be able to transcend politics and make a difference?

Thulani Davis(writing on Dennis Kucinich) is the author, most recently, of My Confederate Kinfolk: A Twenty-first Century Freedwoman Discovers Her Roots.

Laura Flanders(writing on Hillary Clinton) is the host of RadioNationon Air America Radio network. She is the author of Blue Grit: Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians.

Richard Goldstein(writing on Barack Obama, the new man in American politics) writes regularly for The Nation. He is the author of Homocons: The Rise of the Gay Right.

Dean Kuipers(writing on Al Gore) is the managing editor of CityBeat, the alternative weekly of Los Angeles, and is the author of Burning Rainbow Farm: How a Stoner Utopia Went Up in Smoke.

James Ridgeway(writing on John Edwards) is Mother Jones'Washington, DC, bureau chief and the author of The Five Unanswered Questions about 9/11.

This volume collects the writings of prominent left-liberal writers examining the Democratic contenders for the presidential nomination of 2008. The writers are far from uncritical, although the criticisms differ markedly from standard conservative epithets of "tax and spend" or "cut and run." The contributions include Laura Flanders on Hillary Clinton; Richard Goldstein on Barack Obama; James Ridgeway on John Edwards, Christopher Dodd, Joseph Biden, Bill Richardson, and Mike Gravel; and Eli Sanders and Dan Savage on Dennis Kucinich. Also included is an essay on Al Gore, even though he's not running, penned by Dean Kuipers. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Some of the nations wittiest and best-informed commentators look beyond the campaign promises, the mudslinging, and the personal testimony to present another side of the story: Will any of the Democratic politicians be able to transcend politics and make a difference?

Laura Flanders (writing on Hillary Clinton) is the host of "RadioNation" on Air America Radio network. She is the author of Blue Grit: Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians (Penguin Press, 2007), Bushwomen: How They Won the Whitehouse for their Man (Verso, 2005), and The W Effect: Sexual Politics in the Bush Years and Beyond (Feminist Press, 2004).