LOS ANGELES, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic Party's incoming congressional leaders would be drawn into a struggle with their own supporters after winning the midterm election, the Los Angeles Times said on Sunday.

    How will Democratic congressional leaders reward their supporters would be a big issue since their demands for rewards might be difficult to be met, said the paper.

    These supporters "are claiming credit for the victories and demanding what they consider their due: a set of ambitious - and politically provocative - actions on gun control, abortion, national security and other issues that party leaders fear could alienate moderate voters and leave Democrats vulnerable to GOP attacks as big spenders or soft on terrorism," the paper noted.

    Among the pressing issues, pressure on Democrats is especially acute to redirect U.S. policy in Iraq, but Democratic lawmakers have not unified behind a single Iraq policy.

    "If they could find common ground with Bush on a continued troop presence, they might fend off GOP efforts to label them as weak on national security - but they would probably infuriate a growing antiwar movement that helped propel the party back into power," said the paper.

    Many Democrats say the issue was the most important one driving the party's victory.

    To the leaders of interest groups who are core supporters of the Democratic Party, and who had been barred under Republican rule from the inner sanctums of power, the new Congress means a time for action, not compromise, the paper stressed.

    It said lobbyists for the American Civil Liberties Union, for example, are all but counting on Democrats to repeal the most controversial provisions of the Patriot Act, the anti-terrorist law pushed by the White House that some critics call unconstitutional. They also want to end President Bush's domestic wiretapping program.

    Similar vows are coming from lobbyists for abortion rights, who want to expand family-planning options for poor women and scale back Bush's focus on abstinence education, and from gun-control advocates, who hope to revive a lapsed ban on assault weapons, according to the paper.

    Labor unions, a core Democratic constituency, are demanding universal healthcare and laws discouraging corporations from seeking inexpensive labor overseas.

    Labor officials also called on Pelosi and Reid to fulfill their promise to raise the minimum wage and allow Medicare to seek discounts on drug prices.

    The day after the election, labor leaders declared a mandate for their causes and called on the new Congress to immediately reverse anti-union policies enacted by the Bush administration and promote affordable healthcare "for all."

    All these pose a challenge to the Democrats in line to lead Congress - Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco in the House and Harry Reid of Nevada in the Senate, said the paper.

    Both Pelosi and Reid have pledged in recent days to "govern from the center," after a campaign in which anger over the Iraq war and GOP scandals helped their party attract some unusually conservative candidates and a large share of independent voters.

    Turning off those new voters could undermine Democrats' hopes of solidifying their new majorities and taking the White House in 2008, the paper said.