Was this covered while I was gone?

[TayTay]

The Guardian newspaper in the UK had an article on 8/8 that the money guys in the Dem Party (the Gray Eminences like George Soros who aren't candidates but have a lot to say about where the Party goes) have launched a fund-raising effort that hopes to raise $200 million to fund Democratic think tanks. This is a millionaires only fund-raiser as each participant pledges $200,000 a year for five years. (They have $80 mil pledged already, over 5 years.)

This is a fascinating development that is rife with tea leaf reading possibilities. I have been seeing trends recently that indicate that the 'Powers That Be' in the Dem Party have finally had it with *, his people, his wars and his government. They are gearing up for a long and sustained war against * and the Rethugs in general in a way that we haven't seen in a long, long time. The Dems, recently, have had the image of a slightly bumbling group of really, really nice people who are better at governing than they are at campaigning. The signs are falling into place that this perception is about to change. The gloves are coming off and people are ready to pick up the brass knuckles and prepare for a real fight.

Does anyone else see this? I believe that Sen. Kerry fought as hard as he could last year and that he might have won in Ohio. (No definitive evidence exists to support this theory however.) I also saw a lot of fracture lines in the Dems last year and the Left could have done a better job of backing it's nominee. The trends that I see point to a consolidation of power back into the 'Powers That Be' in the Dem Party (which is NOT a liberal trend, btw) and the emerging consolidation of issues, GOTV and strategy back into the DNC. (Long story about how the Left fractured in the 60's-70's and the Dems allowed the growth of single-issue politics. NARAL handled abortion, for example, while last year the Dems outsourced a lot of their GOTV efforts to MoveOn and ACT. No More.)

Sen. Kerry is, obviously, one of the Powers That Be in the Dem Party. Why else would the July meeting about convincing a woman to become a Senatorial candidate (forgot the state here, but we wrote about this meeting in this forum a few weeks ago) take place in Nantucket?

What say you? Has this been covered already?

[politicasista]

1. That's the first time I have heard of this

Interesting. :hi:

[whometense]

2. Not really.

I saw the news item about the $80 million, but your post is the first in here.


The trends that I see point to a consolidation of power back into the 'Powers That Be' in the Dem Party (which is NOT a liberal trend, btw) and the emerging consolidation of issues, GOTV and strategy back into the DNC.

What do you think this all means for Kerry? Are the 'Powers That Be' apt to be big Hillary backers? What do you think the Clintons' position is in the power structure right now? I've grown deeply distrustful of both of them (to the glee, I might add, of my husband, who was really po'd by Clinton's juvenile behavior while in office.)

[TayTay]

4. It really is kind of grey at this moment.

There are, as there always has been, 'Grey Eminences' in the Democratic Party. These are former and current office holders and the big money donors to the Party. They have a great deal of power, because money talks. And a lot of these Powers are fed up with the Rethugs and with how the Dem Party structure and how the liberal interest groups are failing to fully confront the Rethugs.

Bill Bradley wrote this great NYTimes editorial earlier in the year about how the Dem Power structure is not working. Basically he said that the Repubs have a pyramid structure that works because it is a steady presence from year to year. Whoever becomes the Repub Pres nominee just has to be slotted into the top of the pyramid and the thing chugs onward. The Dems have basically re-invented the wheel every four years and used a sort of inverted pyramid structure. The Dem nominee is expected to rebuild the campaign pyramid updwards from the day they become 'the presumptive nominee.' It has finally dawned on some people how unfair this is and how it really doesn't work and wounds the nominee, the Dem Party and the downwind races.

The Powers That Be have paid attention to this. So this movement would benefit any Dem who became the nominee. (Bill Clinton is a Grey Eminence in the Dem Party. But Bill Clinton has a lot of baggage within the Party as well as goodwill. I'm not sure this means much for Hillary. It's too early to tell. Besides, Hillary is recruiting her own money guys and trying to position herself as a sort-of lefty and a sort-of moderate.)

John Kerry is a current office holder. He is a wild-card because he is a past nominee who hasn't gone away and hasn't renounced his chance at another run for the nomination. He has friends in the Party as well as some who think his time to run for Pres has passed. He also has money guys who are still with him. And Kerry's tech people are doing very interesting things with the web. (They have the best database usage I've yet seen. When Roberts got announced as the SCOTUS nominee, I got an e-mail from NARAL begging to contact my Sens immediately to protest him. I thought to myself, guys, if you haven't got Kerry and Kennedy you are screwed. You need a better database.) Kerry has been plugging away for Casey in PA, for a Maryland candidate (sorry, I didn't get this one, but I know it went out) and for causes as well. This should build up goodwill and the notice of the DNC who might ask to share. (Favors granted means favors owed.)

There are more tea leaves to read, if you like. In a nutshell, I think that some of the liberal interest groups are going to have to learn to stop being so picky about Dem candidates and officeholders. They have been their own little fiefdoms for 30 years and this is not working. And there is going to be hell to pay on the internet when the DNC moves to take back a lot of 'their' issues. (You think GD is bad now? Just wait until the pressure starts coming down for a more unified base and the pressure builds to dry up some interest group funding and channel that money to the DNC. It's beginning to look like Howard Dean being Chairman was a masterstroke. Hey, Whome, refresh my memory. Who was it who was burning up the cellphone lines from Iraq back to the States back in Jan?)

[ginnyinWI]

3. it's very good news

I do think we need better strategies for improving the Dem image. Dems need to be more than "not Republicans". Just looking at the lefties in DU shows how we need a really strong "brand" for these types to rally around, so they don't go off looking at alternative parties. And disillusioned repubs need a party they trust before committing. This is a problem that money can help solve.

A second thing we really need is more Dems in office at all levels, and money will help that too.

[rox63]

5. I heard about it

But it was on AAR. So I don't know if the MSM gave it any coverage.

[jillan]

6. Someone posted this is GD earlier this week.

I think it's great news!

[Pirate Smile]

7. The Washington Post had an article on it this week.

Rich Liberals Vow to Fund Think Tanks
Aim Is to Compete With Conservatives

By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 7, 2005; Page A01

At least 80 wealthy liberals have pledged to contribute $1 million or more apiece to fund a network of think tanks and advocacy groups to compete with the potent conservative infrastructure built up over the past three decades.

The money will be channeled through a new partnership called the Democracy Alliance, which was founded last spring -- the latest in a series of liberal initiatives as the Democratic Party and its allies continue to struggle with the loss of the House and the Senate in 1994 and the presidency in 2000. Many influential Democratic contributors were left angry and despairing over the party's poor showing in last year's elections, and are looking for what they hope will be more effective ways to invest their support.

Financial commitments totaling at least $80 million over the next five years generated by the Democracy Alliance in recent months -- at a time when some liberal groups, such as the George Soros-backed America Coming Together, are floundering -- suggest that the group is becoming a player in the long-term effort to reinvigorate the left. The group has a goal of raising $200 million -- a sum that would inevitably come in part at the expense of more traditional Democratic groups, although alliance officials say donors have committed to maintaining past contribution levels.

Alliance chairman Steven Gluckstern, a retired investment banker, said that President Bush's victory over Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) last year after millions of dollars had been poured into pro-Democratic "527" groups caused many contributors to think that a dramatically new approach is needed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/06/AR2005080600848.html

Tay Tay, take a look at this thread and the new Democracy Corp focus group info that came out this week. Hopefully, the new liberal think tanks will help us successfully take on this problem.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4296416