No sense waiting until the new tea party Koch Brothers controlled Congress gets sworn in before both left and right begin thinking about 2012. Democrats have a pretty good idea who will be on their ticket, but the Republicans are going to have one helluva battle. Can't wait. I wonder what all those disappointed Palinistas will do when the money behind the GOP all goes toward the establishment candidates like Mitt Romney or maybe Haley Barbour. Even though no one in the GOP will say it on the record, the #1 thing on the internal agenda for the Republican party is finding someone who can beat Sarah Palin in the primaries. The GOP is scared to death of having to spend a year defending the indefensibly ignorant 1/2 term former governor of Alaska.
But these days, it almost doesn't matter who is on the ticket. What matters is who is financially backing the ticket. Democrats got killed in 2010 because of outside interest money. Nearly all of it went to backing Republicans, and with the horrendous Citizens United decision still standing, the Democrats are going to have to come up with some way to compete financially with the US Chamber of Commerce and groups like Crossroads.
Fortunately, we are beginning to see the makings of a "Crossroads for the left." David Brock, founder of Media Matters, is reportedly in the early stages of forming his own outside group to raise money for Democratic candidates in 2012. Greg Sargent of the Washington Post is quoting an anonymous source who has spoken directly to Brock about this. "David is on the road right now talking to donors and strategists who would be interested in this," the source tells me, adding that Brock intends to create a 527, which has partial donor disclosure rules. "He's out pitching it right now. There's a general sense that in 2010 nothing was done and it cost Democrats," the source continues. "People realize, including in the White House, that something needs to be done in 2012 or progressives will suffer at the ballot box again."
Though candidate Obama frowned on outside groups and had nearly all of the left-leaning ones shut down during his 2008 campaign, the president's re-elect team knows that Citizens United has changed the game. There are virtually no rules left in campaign finance. If the left doesn't fight back, we will get wiped out again in 2012. I am glad that Brock is starting early, since we all know the Republican Tea Party's corporate donors are already getting their money lined up.
2 comments:
You have got to be kidding. The left is full of left wing 527's that supported Democrats in the last election.
As for Media Matters, I am certain that the evil and vile George Soros will continue to fund them very well to try and bring about his wanted progressive utopia in 2012.
Brock will be a useful idiot in implementing Soros' Plans, along with other Soro's funded groups such as Moveon.org, Tides Foundation, Democracy Alliance, Center for American Progress, and Open Society Institute.
You know, all of the ones that Barack shuts down so they won't support him. You cannot be that naive, Dave!
There is so much wrong in your comment, and I only have so much interest in correcting you. For one, George Soros is not evil, vile, or a Nazi like Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter have been claiming for years. The right wing conspiracy theory factory has been working overdrive on him the last few years. It's really pretty desperate, if you ask me. He's the only billionaire who is not a Republican, so he has to be attacked for not engaging in wingnut group think.
He does not fund Media Matters, though he did donate $1 mil this year. It was his first donation to the site ever.
Being a liberal and funding liberal think tanks and policy institutes is not evil. You guys really need to settle down with all this liberal = anti-American crap that has been spewed out over the last few years.
The Koch Brothers, Richard Melon Scaiffe, and a whole slew of other right wing billionaires fund causes that have direct negative consequences on Americans, while personally benefiting them. If you want to investigate a potential Dr. Evil situation, I suggest you look there.
But facts are stubborn things. By a 5 to 1 margin, more money was spent on behalf of Republican candidates than was spent on Democrats. The perpetual victimization that the right seems to feel about those "big meanie liberals and all their evil liberal money" is unfounded and really pretty laughable.
Post a Comment