Wiring the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy
By MATT BAI, NY Times Magazine
July 25, 2004
Andy Rappaport made his millions as a venture capitalist,searching out
what he calls ''ideas that change the world.'' About six years ago,
for instance, when most everyone else in the high-tech industry
thought wireless communication was going to depend on new, exotic
semiconductors, Rappaport threw $2.5 million into a start-up called
Atheros Communications, whose founders were focusing instead on
building low-cost radios using common chip technology. It was a smart
move. When the company went public last February, the initial
investment by Rappaport and his partners was worth more than $60
million.
Rappaport is also, increasingly, an avid investor in liberal causes,
and in this context he might be called a political venture
capitalist. Rappaport and his wife, Deborah, whose philanthropic
activities in recent years include several million dollars in
donations to art museums and after-school music programs, have
committed at least $5 million this year -- so far -- to support a
bevy of fledgling liberal groups, like Music for America and
Punkvoter.com, aimed at mobilizing younger voters.
I met Rappaport, who is 46, in early June in his firm's offices on
Sand Hill Road, Silicon Valley's answer to Wall Street. As we talked
in a plush conference room flanked by a sunlit terrace on one side
and a pool table on the other, events in the world outside seemed to
be tilting strongly in the Democrats' favor. Public support for
President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq was dropping
precipitously. The price of oil had shot up to $42 a barrel. Only
hours earlier, voters in South Dakota sent a Democratic woman,
Stephanie Herseth, to the U.S. House in a special election -- a race
widely viewed as a potential harbinger for November.
But if all of this made John Kerry a good bet to become the next
president, it did nothing, in Rappaport's view, to solve the
Democrats' underlying problems. When I asked if he was skeptical
about the direction of the party, he smiled, then said dryly, ''If
you've been able to discern a direction on which to be skeptical or
optimistic, then you're doing pretty well.''
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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/25/magazine/25DEMOCRATS.html?th