[allemnendup]

LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,7372349.story

Galvanized by the lightning-in-a-bottle success of conservative "tea party" candidates, moderate Republicans and others in the political center are looking for ways to push back against what they see as an advancing tide of ideological extremism.

The efforts are loosely organized and embryonic, but politicians, advocacy groups and others are piecing together a framework to promote moderate candidates and advance positions they say have been eclipsed by partisan sniping on the right and left.

...

At the same time, once-solid Republicans left behind as their party tacked rightward have launched independent bids in several states — including Alaska, Florida, Rhode Island and Minnesota — appealing to moderate voters.

Underscoring those efforts is a newfound drive by advocacy groups to give moderate voters a louder voice. In Washington, a nonprofit group called No Labels is forming with the goal of bringing Republicans and Democrats together; echoing tea party rhetoric, it terms itself a "citizens movement" and decries "the tyranny of hyperpartisanship."

...

The No Labels effort, expected to launch later this year, is backed by Republicans such as McKinnon, the former Bush advisor, and Nancy Jacobson, a powerful Democratic fundraiser married to pollster Mark Penn.

Another Washington group, think tank Third Way, advocates "a moderate ideology" built around such issues as free trade and clean energy.

"If we allow polarization to continue on the path it's on, we won't be able to solve the problems our country is confronting," said Anne Kim, a policy analyst for the organization.