This year, Democratic presidential candidates have a different agenda.

Last summer, many addressed the Democratic Leadership Council, attacking President Bush and stressing their fealty to the centrist, New Democratic philosophy that helped Bill Clinton win two White House terms.

But when the DLC met last week in Philadelphia, the nine hopefuls were absent. DLC officials said they wanted to stress the group’s message and didn’t invite them. It was unclear if most would have been eager to come, since they are busy wooing the labor, environmental, anti-war and civil rights groups that dominate the party’s nominating process.

On the day the DLC met, seven of them were in Pittsburgh, speaking to the National Urban League on the latest stop in a seemingly nonstop parade before powerful party constituencies.

Perhaps the candidates who hope to beat Bush would have found a visit to Philadelphia useful. It might have reminded them of the danger of pushing positions that may help them in next year’s primaries but not with the broader general-election constituency.

Take the recent appearance by seven of the nine – all but Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and Bob Graham of Florida – before the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest civil rights group on gay and lesbian issues.

Only the three longest shots – former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York – advocated legalization of same-sex marriages.

But all backed some form of legalized domestic partnership or civil union that would give gay couples some of the rights enjoyed by heterosexual couples. Former Gov. Howard Dean noted he had signed such a law in Vermont.

However, even that more modest step is unpopular with a majority of Americans. A new Gallup Poll showed that sentiment against civil unions has increased since the Supreme Court struck down a Texas anti-sodomy law.

The poll showed feelings are even stronger in the South and Midwest, where Democrats must make inroads to defeat Bush.

The candidates also have energetically wooed labor unions, which, despite their national decline, retain a major role in the Democratic Party. They are especially important in Iowa and Michigan, where activists dominate caucuses.

In coming weeks, the Democrats will hold major forums before two important labor groups, this week before the AFL-CIO in Chicago and a week later before the Iowa Federation of Labor.

They may resemble May’s forum in Iowa before the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, where candidates vied over who had the most extensive – and expensive – health care plan.

Such sessions give Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Mr. Dean a chance to counter Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, labor’s early favorite due to his advocacy of limits on free trade.

To be sure, candidates face a tricky balance in wooing such groups without seeming overly beholden to them.

But they also may be playing into Republican hands by renewing the image of Democrats as dominated by liberals and special interests.

Indeed, if the candidates had been in Philadelphia, they would have heard pollster Mark Penn warn that a revival of the old image again threatens the party’s hopes.

To win, Penn told the DLC, “Democrats must make inroads among suburban and middle-class families with children.”

But his poll showed those “swing” voters, more than the overall electorate, feel the Democratic Party is “too liberal,” “too beholden to special interests groups” and “out of touch” with mainstream America.

If the candidates aren’t careful, their agenda this year may prove to be the undoing of the party’s opportunity next year.

Carl P. Leubsdorf is Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News.

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