Attention Democrats: These may be heady times for you but be forewarned: as you tip-toe through the long-sought political tulips there are also political minefields lurking out there, a Los Angeles Times report notes:

An exhaustive national survey of American attitudes released last week sent the same message as the Democratic sweep in the 2006 midterm elections: a shift among independents is providing the party its best opportunity since Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993 to establish a durable electoral advantage over the GOP.

It’s another question whether Democrats can seize that opportunity better than they did in 1993, when missteps by Clinton and the party’s congressional majority set up a GOP landslide just one year later. And, in fact, two other trends in contemporary public opinion spotlight dangers lurking for the Democrats again today.

The piece is by one of the Los Angeles Times’ best reporters, Ronald Brownstein, who is now the paper’s national affairs columnist. He’s about as solid and thoughtful a political journalist as you can find anywhere.

What’s one of the prime causes for the Democrat’s recent good fortunes, which began when the votes were counted in 2006? A factor we have noted all along: WATCH the independent voters:

Democrats romped in 2006 mostly because independent voters broke decisively for them in both the House and Senate races, after splitting about evenly between the parties in 2004 and 2002. That shift in turn was driven by a collapse in support among independents for President Bush and the Iraq War. Bush’s approval rating among independents in Gallup polls hasn’t reached 40% since August 2005.

The most important finding in the study published last week by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center was that the rift between independents and Republican voters now extends far beyond assessments of Bush and Iraq. On most key issues Pew measured, independents expressed views much closer to Democratic voters than to Republicans.

But now, Brownstein, writes, two pitfalls face the Democrats:

The first is that approval ratings for Congress are declining again, less than three months after the Democrats took control. The new majority faces a genuine conundrum. After six years of Republican dereliction, tough oversight of the Bush Administration is not only justified but imperative. And Bush’s refusal to negotiate with the Democrats on issues from strategy in Iraq to testimony on the U.S. attorneys controversy leaves them with little choice but to confront him in headline-grabbing collisions, like the congressional efforts to impose a time limit on the war.

But as McInturff notes, these repeated skirmishes are exposing the Democratic majority to a dangerous dynamic. Conflicts are proliferating while the initiatives they promised voters last year, such as a higher minimum wage, are stalled. If they can’t revive that agenda, even amid the fireworks with Bush on other fronts, congressional Democrats are asking for trouble. Relentless argument and sparse achievement isn’t an ideal formula for success.

Early soundings about the 2008 presidential general election also ought to raise Democratic concerns. (This is the point in the column where I point out that my wife, or as I call her around the house, my little disclaimer, works in John McCain’s Senate office.)

Despite the collapse in Bush’s support, and the emerging Democratic issue advantages, the leading Republican contenders usually run step for step with—and often lead—the top Democrats in surveys testing 2008 support. It’s early of course, but even so those numbers suggest Democrats face substantial work to tie the 2008 Republicans to voter disillusionment with Bush, and to resolve doubts about their own potential nominees. It’s not too early to predict that nothing may matter more next year than whether the Republican nominee can establish independence from Bush or Democrats succeed in portraying the GOP ticket as the extension of a leadership that has lost the country’s confidence.

Brownstein also notes (as we have since we started this website) that Bush and his political maven Karl Rove have tried to use a polarization strategy to spark a huge conservative election turnout.

That strategy now seems to be out of sorts. But is it OUT?

That strategy is looking steadily less viable amid the mounting evidence it has estranged independents from the GOP. But the continuing signs of hesitation about the Democratic Congress and the party’s 2008 contenders show that Democrats are still searching for a winning formula of their own.

And, indeed, no one (unless their name is Rush or Sean) can now say the Democrats don’t have any ideas to offer. On a year or two ago the Democrats seemed to be mostly the anti-Bush. Now, increasingly, they are dumping a bunch of ideas on the table.

But, as Brownstein suggests, there’s a sense that they don’t really have a cohesive formula yet.

Even so, it’s still one year to 2008 and even if the Democrats fail to find a formula they are being aided by the increasing scandals, negatives stories and growing credibility gap that comes to mind when you mention the phrase “Bush administration” — a phrase that seems to stir up fear and loathing among some.

But enough about what many REPUBLICANS think…