For some British observers of last week’s presidential elections, it all sounded strangely familiar. A candidate whose name begins with K crashes to defeat, sparking instant agonising over his party’s future direction. An immediate search is launched for a charismatic leader who can end the wilderness years.

As Senator John Kerry limped into history after his crushing election loss to President George W Bush, the ghost of Neil Kinnock’s Labour party hovered over many a Democratic wake.

A radical reshaping of the Democrats’ image and message may now be in store as some of the party’s leaders seek the same kind of middle-of-the-road appeal that turned old Labour into new and ultimately propelled Tony Blair to power. Other factions appear equally determined to steer the party left, in the hope of mounting a stiffer challenge to Bush and his heirs.

The path to British-style rebirth may in either case prove bumpy, as Kerry’s departure opens the door to a new generation of Democratic leaders led by Senator Hillary Clinton, who has swiftly emerged as the early frontrunner in the 2008 presidential race.

Yet Kerry’s failure to loosen Bush’s grip on America’s conservative rural heartland has left many Democrat strategists wondering if Clinton can do any better in a country that remains so divided.

“The Democrats need a Blair-style figure, and I don’t think Hillary quite fits the bill,” said Nile Gardiner, who studies American politics at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank. “I think you’re going to see a period of Democrat soul-searching not dissimilar to the Labour party’s in the early 1990s.”

The first sign of the battle ahead came with the emergence of Howard Dean, the fiery former governor of Vermont, as a possible candidate for the influential post of party chairman.

An early frontrunner in the Democratic primary race, Dean ultimately lost the nomination to Kerry amid voter concerns that his liberal record and opposition to the war in Iraq were too extreme for middle America.

Yet Dean’s mastery of internet fundraising and the clarity of his anti-war message are now seen by liberal Democrats as assets. “We need to become a genuine party of opposition,” one strategist said. “Howard would give us an unmistakable voice.”

Others point to contrasting lessons from the few Democratic successes in local elections last Tuesday. In heavily Republican Montana, the governor’s race was won by the Democrat Brian Schweitzer. His victory was attributed to his decision to choose a moderate Republican as his lieutenant-governor running mate.

In the western state of Colorado, which also voted for Bush, Ken Salazar pulled off an even more startling victory in a Senate seat. The Democrat candidate not only held off Pete Coors, a billionaire beer magnate, but won what had seemed a safe Republican seat.

At least part of Salazar’s success was attributed to his folksy campaigning style — he toured the state in a cowboy hat, driving an ancient pickup truck that endeared him to rural conservative voters.

The so-called “moral” issues that were supposed to benefit Republicans proved mostly irrelevant to Salazar’s carefully crafted bid for the political middle.

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