Obama: Don't Fund the Outside Groups
Ben Smith at the Politico is now reporting what Matt Stoller blogged as rumor earlier this week: that the Obama campaign is telling progressive donors to withhold funds from "outside" 527 organizations. At this point it's inclear whether this means all 527 organizations or all just the media organizations that might run negative campaigns in the fall.
Senator Barack Obama's campaign is steering the candidate's wealthy supporters away from independent Democratic groups, calling into question what had been expected to be the groups' central role in this year's Democratic offensive against Senator John McCain.
Obama's national finance chairwoman, Chicago hotel mogul Penny Pritzker, told supporters at a national finance committee meeting in Indianapolis May 2, and in other conversations, not to give money to the groups, people familiar with her comments said.
From the perspective of the Obama campaign, this makes sense. It reinforces their message of rejecting the partisanship of the past and don't need anyone muddying their message with negative ads. They have a large enough volunteer base geographically dispersed enough to run their own 50-state field campaign (which they already launched this last weekend).
That's a short-sighted view, however. The Obama campaign isn't the end-all, be-all of progressive, or even Democratic, politics. He may well have the money and volunteers to pull this off all by himself this year, but will he do the same next year, while he's busy pushing policy and his name isn't on a single ballot? Will he lead the media and field campaigns during the 2010 midterms? What happens when Obama is no longer on the ballot? Or if Obama should become an unpopular president and can no longer muster the same forces as we're seeing now?
One of these things will eventually come pass, and when they do, we will need those "outside" organizations to step up and fill the gaps as they have these last years.
In the realm of youth organizing, there was nothing happening outside of non-partisan voter registration prior to 2003. That was rectified by the creation of numerous 527 and 501c4 organizations during the last election cycle. Presumably these, too, would be defunded if the Obama campaign has its way.
Not all campaigns, will be as successful with youth as Sen. Obama. The state parties are still quite bad at targeting young voters. We will have a hard time maximizing youth turnout without those organizations, and I worry that if these new institutions have funds withheld this year, they will wither on the vine and in a few short years we will be back where we started pre-2003.
Some might argue that Obama is posturing. That this is just a pose to maintain his post-partisan image. That all depends on how serious the donors take him and what they decide to do with their money this cycle. If donors ignore Obama's statements and give anyway, then no-harm no-foul. The article makes clear, however, that some donors are taking him seriously:
The donors have been considering entreaties from Progressive Media USA, run by conservative-journalist turned liberal media critic David Brock; from former Clinton aide John Podesta's Fund for America; and from America Votes, a group backed by billionaire George Soros that focuses on voter mobilization, among other efforts.
But in recent days, major donors have begun to conclude that Obama is serious in trying to cut off funds to the outside groups.
"It's given donors pause," said one prominent Democratic donor of Pritzker's words.
Youth organizing is supported by so few donors. Indeed, the big struggle now is to find mid-level donors to help make our new infrastructure more sustainable and less dependent on the whims of one or two funders. If even a few of these funders heed the Obama campaign's words, it could have drastic effects on the sustainability of our nascent youth movement.
I hope that doesn't happen.
2008 Youth Vote in Context
The following charts and graphs are meant to contextualize the unique role that young voters played in the 2008 election, and their increasingly important role in a winning electoral coalition:
2008 Youth Electoral Map

2004 Youth Electoral Map

Youth Vote Partisan Advantage: 2000 - 2008

Youth Vote Historical Support: 1976 - 2008

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Definitely dangerous
I absolutely agree with you. The progressive movement continued losing to the conservative machine because we did not have the outside organization structure that supported a widespread, enduring movement. When we rely solely on a single candidate or campaign we are essentially putting all of our chips on a single number in a game of roulette.
We also have to remember that despite the immense importance of electing a Democratic President, it is also extremely important to win down-ticket elections in every state and territory. Many outside organizations have been critical to such victories.
Youth-focused 527s such as the Young Democrats of America have been crucial to engaging the millennial generation, and it is the work of these organizations that created the environment that allowed the Obama campaign to build its base of young supporters.
I understand the desire to discourage 527s from running attack ads on McCain in order to highlight this new kind of politics, but not all 527s are alike, and not all are focused on attacking opponents. By lumping together all 527s in this way we run the risk of crippling an important piece of infrastructure of the progressive movement. Instead, the Obama campaign should at the outset encourage media-buy focused organizations to not run negative attack ads.
Kevin Bondelli (AZ)
Southwest Region Director
Young Democrats of America
http://ydabondelli.wordpress.com
http://www.yda.org/blog
This may be a wise policy if
This may be a wise policy if he can pull it off. Not only will it show his leadership capabilities, but it reinforces his message of a new kind of politics. It also sharply contrasts McCain's lack of real effort to rein in the right wing 527's and factions of the RNC.
In addition, it gives him some justification to decline the public financing McCain will be forced to accept because of dismal fundraising, and gives him more control over the message.
If he can pull this off, we may be witnessing the prelude to a very powerful and effective administration, as well as another long term stretch of Democratic congressional control.
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