Wellstone Action!

posted by Jeff Blodgett

MAY 14, 2010

In case you missed it, Politico posted this must-read look at the financing and infrastructure of the conservative movement.  The bottom line:  Top conservative leaders like Karl Rove, former GOP Chairman Ed Gillespie, and former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman are putting in place the key elements of a strong political movement, and getting donors to cough up over 70 million dollars to make sure they are successful.

The unofficial network of organizations (which aren't technically affiliated but in some cases share the same office space) add a whole new dimension of muscle to the current array of conservative training centers, candidate development and support efforts, policy think-tanks, and voter contact infrastructure.

Both Gillespie and Coleman cite progressive organizations and infrastructure as their inspiration, and are telling their donors (with deep pockets) that the right has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to putting the pieces in place to win.  Top conservative fundraisers are making it clear that supporting this "behind the scenes" infrastructure work is a key component of the path to retaking power in Washington.

But let's put some historical perspective on all this impressive organizational development.  Back in 2004, knee-deep in the Bush Administration and conservative governing majorities,  it was OUR side that was impoverished in the infrastructure department.  Conservatives were ahead of us in terms of sophisticated voter outreach strategies, policy development, and an apparatus for distributing research and messaging.  The Center for American Progress had just been founded to provide long-term leadership, and the Democracy Alliance was formed to combat organized right-wing funders. 

Even with the organizations and infrastructure keeping progressives on the cutting edge of campaign strategy, we've never been able to come close to matching the funding capacity of our conservative counterparts.  And now that they are putting their fundraising muscle behind these critical ingredients to change, we should be concerned about their ability to leverage organized money and organized people to yield strong victories.

No matter which way the pendulum swings, the progressive movement needs to keep developing organizations, leaders and capacity that can continue the important work of building lasting progressive power.  We can't simply continue to play leap-frog with our conservative counterparts.  So while we fight hard this year, we also need long-term, significant investment with a plan for moving our agenda that looks out past 2010 to 2011, 2012, 2013 and beyond. 

This recent resurgence on the right should be our reminder not to let ourselves fall behind once again.