Liberals feel welcome again in Washington

Union officials, civil rights advocates and environmentalists say they feel welcome in Washington after years in political exile.

Everybody is seeing the energy that has been unleashed in this election cycle, said Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org, a liberal activist group.

With Barack Obama soon to occupy the White House and Democrats gaining power in Congress, liberal constituencies believe they have returned from an exile forced on them 14 years ago when Democrats last controlled Congress, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

Some activists date their exile to Ronald Reagan's 1980 election because they considered Bill Clinton's presidency centrist with only two years of a Democratic majority in Congress, the Times reported.

It feels like there's an air of transparency, said Rea Carey, spokeswoman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. It is this different feeling, that the door is not closed -- the door is opening.