Liberal "527" groups have raised gobs of cash to
defeat President Bush. It's an impressive feat --
providing they spend the money wisely.
So far, however, the groups have spent lavishly
on political marketing and mobilization, while
investing little in developing the themes, ideas, and messages
that ultimately win elections. This is like a company trying to
stay ahead of the competition by increasing its advertising
budget instead of making better products. Sexy ads may
boost sales in the short run, but eventually customers' attention
will turn from the sizzle to the quality of the steak.
The new 527s are the unintended consequence of the 2002
campaign finance law, which banned unlimited "soft money"
contributions to political parties. According to The Center for
Responsive Politics, 527s have collected nearly $200 million
this year, of which roughly 90 percent has gone to
Democratic-leaning groups. But conservatives are scrambling
to catch up. They are pouring money into their own 527s,
such as the infamous Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Most of the 527 money is being used to finance get-outthe-
vote campaigns and attack ads. For example, Americans
Coming Together, one of the biggest of the bunch, bills
itself as "the largest voter contact program in history," while
the Media Fund, led by veteran Democratic operative
Harold Ickes, churns out anti-Bush television ads. Whether
they play the "ground game" or the "air game," these groups
aim at a massive mobilization of Democratic voters.
Turning out your most likely voters obviously is critical
in close races. But politics is not just a matter of "energizing
the base" -- especially when your base falls short of a majority.
It's also the art of persuasion. To persuade undecided
and independent voters, candidates and parties need a compelling
message -- not just slogans or deathless sound bites
but a coherent governing philosophy, grounded in core convictions
and coupled with attractive ideas for tackling the
nation's biggest problems.
So as they use the 527 windfall to meet the "vast, rightwing
conspiracy" on more equal terms, progressives
shouldn't ignore the key lesson of the conservatives' long
march to power: In politics, ideas matter most.
After the Goldwater debacle in 1964, conservatives realized
they would always be at an electoral disadvantage, as
long as liberal ideas and assumptions set the basic terms of
the nation's political debate. They set out to change that by
investing heavily in foundations, academic research, and a
new breed of advocacy-oriented think tanks, such as the
American Enterprise Institute and
the Heritage Foundation. In a period
of intense intellectual ferment,
they forged a more sophisticated critique
of liberal programs and
defined a new conservative governing
agenda. All this won converts to
conservatism, especially among
blue-collar Democrats, and set the
stage for Ronald Reagan's watershed
victory in 1980.
The right-wing echo chamber that so obsesses liberals --
talk radio, conservative publishing houses and newspapers,
and cable TV shows -- emerged later. It's important for
Democrats to keep in mind that the conservatives'
formidable propaganda machine is not the main reason for
whatever political success they enjoy -- it's the consequence
of that success.
The last Democrat to win the White House, Bill
Clinton, also put ideas first. He spent years working with
New Democrats in a methodical effort to analyze why the
party kept losing presidential elections, to rediscover and
reapply its first principles, and to modernize its governing
priorities accordingly. From welfare reform to community
policing, and from public school choice to "reinventing
government," he used new ideas brilliantly to jettison old
ideological baggage, claim for Democrats the mantle of
change and reform, and attract new voters to the party.
Democrats, in fact, are still running substantially on the
intellectual legacy of the 1990s.
Whatever happens in this election, Democrats need to
replenish their stock of intellectual capital to stay competitive
and expand their share of the political marketplace.
They need to develop and unite behind their own national
security doctrine, lest Republicans continue to reap
unearned credit as the party of strength and foreign policy
competence. They need to develop a progressive market
strategy that embraces both economic innovation and public
activism to equip working families to take charge of their
economic security. They need big, transformative ideas for
modernizing our huge social insurance systems, restoring
fiscal discipline and national saving, reforming our hopelessly
skewed tax system, helping parents balance work and
child-rearing, speeding America's shift from fossil fuels to a
"clean energy" economy, and more.
Money, marketing, and turnout are important, but they
can't compensate for a weak case. In politics, the power of
ideas trumps them all.
