election -- and the nasty campaign period which preced it -- showed american politics to be more and more polarized. what happened to the vast middle ground where lawmakers could compromise...and find ways to get things done? as brian todd reports, moderates from both parties hope that will happen... with the formation of a new centrist movement. remember that first week after he was elected? "i'm going to go in there with a spirit of bipartisanship." that spirit wouldn't take hold. "we are going to take back our country." there were soon angry partisan rallies from activist groups on the right, like the tea party... and on the left, like move-on-dot-org. "we can not back down!" in the government, partisan vitriol from republicans... "you lie!" and democrats alike... "it's republicans wrapping their arms around republicans rather than doing the right thing on behalf of the heroes. it is a shame-- a shame!!" "entertaing political theater. but there are many observers -- analysts, columnists, current and former politician -- who are openly worried that with the momentum from the tea party and other republicans in congress..and with left-leaning democrats hunkering down on that side and putting more pressure on president obama, some crucial problems like reducing the deficit, maybe even in time to avoid a government shutdown in 2011-- won't get solved." now, a new movement targeting the middle of american politics is mobilizing. it's called ' no labels', made up of centrist democrats and republicans, many of them political strategists -- who say they want to pressure the parties to work together to tackle crises like the deficit, unemployment, immigration. jon cowan-- who served in the clinton administration-- is one of the founding members. (reporter: "what demographic of voters are you targeting? who been left out of the latest political struggle in america?") "in american politics right now, mostly the far left and the far right dominate the debate, on the airwaves, on television, in town halls. that's who you see yelling the loudest demanding change. we're organizing the other 70-percent of the electorate." but cowan and others in ' no labels' tell us, this is not a third party. either way- centrist movements in american politics don't have the best track- record. (reporter: "what is the movement up against at this point?") "what the movement is up against is a very polarized situation. the media basically covers liberals and conservatives. muc of the campaign finance comes from the two extremes. and so that will be their biggest challenge." new york's independent mayor michael bloomberg has been linked to the group- and is invited to speak at their launch in new york on december 13th. a bloomberg aide introduced the two founders of ' no labels'. that was brian todd reporting. we go back out live to the long center where runners are