Six of Harvard's top political thinkers participated in a public discussion yesterday afternoon on the meaning and future of progressivism in public debate.

The discussion, held in the Lowell Junior Common Room between 4 and 6 p.m., focused on the ongoing questions in the presidential election and how to restore traditionally progressive views to the forefront of national political debate and the Democratic Party platform.

Buttenwieser University Professor Stanley Hoffmann declared that "the progressive vision died with Bobby Kennedy."

Richard J. Parker, lecturer in public policy in the Kennedy School of Government, said he agreed that what was missing from the Democratic Party was an overarching commitment to a progressive agenda.

"The battle is about vision," Parker said. "The rest will follow."

College Democrats President Marcie B. Bianco '02 said that the event reflected the organization's attempt to move toward the left and to work at "establishing more of a presence here on campus" after the end of the presidential campaign.

"I want to move this club way to the left of where Al Gore ['69] is," she added.

The panelists disparaged the Gore, President Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council for veering from crucial liberal values.