By Thomas B. Edsall




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
Democracy Alliance is] the brainchild of longtime Democratic strategist
Rob Stein, who spent years studying conservative groups – in particular
their success in sustaining GOP politicians and achieving many of their
policy goals. Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network,
is working with Stein and is a leading promoter of his effort.



Financial
commitments totaling at least $80 million over the next five years
generated by the Democracy Alliance…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.



“To be
effective in the 21st century in promoting your beliefs, it is
necessary to have a financially secure institutional infrastructure
that has the capacity to promote consistently and coherently a set of
ideas, policies and messages,” Stein said. “We understand that it's
very hard to promote a belief system and to be operationally high
performing if you don't have multi-year funding.”

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