[Mb-civic] Rich Liberals Vow to Fund Think Tanks - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

<>Rich Liberals Vow to Fund Think Tanks
Aim Is to Compete With Conservatives

By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 7, 2005; Page A01

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 money will be channeled through a new partnership called the 
Democracy Alliance, which was founded last spring -- the latest in a 
series of liberal initiatives as the Democratic Party and its allies 
continue to struggle with the loss of the House and the Senate in 1994 
and the presidency in 2000. Many influential Democratic contributors 
were left angry and despairing over the party's poor showing in last 
year's elections, and are looking for what they hope will be more 
effective ways to invest their support.

Financial commitments totaling at least $80 million over the next five 
years generated by the Democracy Alliance in recent months -- at a time 
when some liberal groups, such as the George Soros-backed America Coming 
Together, are floundering -- 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 -- a sum that would inevitably come in part at 
the expense of more traditional Democratic groups, although alliance 
officials say donors have committed to maintaining past contribution levels.

<>Alliance chairman Steven Gluckstern, a retired investment banker, said 
that President Bush's victory over Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) last 
year after millions of dollars had been poured into pro-Democratic "527" 
groups caused many contributors to think that a dramatically new 
approach is needed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/06/AR2005080600848.html 

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