"Liberal activists" hosting small dinners for potential '08 candidates

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: "The Fix" (blog)
Chris Cillizza
Posted at 08:16 AM ET, 10/24/2005


Democratic Supper Club
A group of influential Washington-based liberal activists is convening informal dinners with Democratic politicians thought to be considering the 2008 presidential race.

The dinners are hosted by former America Coming Together executive director Steve Rosenthal and America Votes head Cecile Richards, and generally include between eight to 10 invited guests. So far the group has dined with Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D) and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh (D). Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) is next on the menu – literally -- as he is slated to join the group for a meal early next month.

Attendees at the dinners say there is no set agenda; the goal is for both sides to become more familiar with one another. “The dinners provide an opportunity for progressive leaders and potential candidates to let their hair down and get to know each other a little better,” said Rosenthal.

This gathering and others like it are done largely out of the media glare but represent a key element of the "primary within the primary." Wooing key players in the party infrastructure can lead to increased visibility for a candidate among both party donors, who will provide the financial backbone of a national campaign, and the ground troops who will be needed to win the retail states of Iowa and New Hampshire. While most voters won'’t be paying attention to the 2008 presidential race for several more years, any candidate not playing this insider game is falling behind by the day....


http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/thefix/

[skipos]

1. Alternatives to Hillary sound good to me. nt

[1932]

2. It would be disappointing if these new 527s, funded by corporate money,

were not so much intended to get Kerry elected in 2004 as the were intended to make sure that a DLC-type Democrat (and I do not consider Kerry and rigid, pro-market, pro-neoliberal DLC'er) got the nomination in 2008 and prevent the nomination of a candidate who cared about labor and didn't want to use free markets to exploit the powerless in the US and overseas.

I fear that we're not going to get the money out of politics until we get the money out of campaigning.