But he also stressed that the DLC and its blogospheric critics are in different lines of work. "What bloggers and activists do is important. They find ways to raise money in small batches. This is a good thing. Finding new ways, new technologies to activate voters, that's also a good thing. But most bloggers will tell you they're not in the policy business. Policy business and creating networks of leaders is what we have always been about."
Policy business meant that much of the three-day meeting was devoted to wonkish discussions about domestic issues like public schools, pensions, poverty and energy. Creating leaders means finding ways to win, which for the DLC has always entailed capturing the middle, with a strong emphasis on technique.
In Colorado two years ago, a well-executed campaign allowed the Democrats to capture both houses of the state Legislature for the first time in 44 years and add a seat each in the U.S. House and Senate. The DLC had chosen Denver as the host for its annual "conversation" because it sees Colorado as a state where Democrats are making a comeback, and it devoted a breakout session called "What Happened in Colorado" to learning the lessons of 2004.
Taking a page from the Republican playbook, the Democrats had poured millions of dollars into targeted races. Rutt Bridges, one of four wealthy donors who quietly bankrolled much of the so-called stealth campaign, attended the session. "We felt the same way Dwight Eisenhower felt," said Bridges. "Unilateral disarmament is not the solution." One of the lessons of 2004, however, might be that it was a singular event. As Al Yates, former president of Colorado State University, pointed out to the assembled, one of the key ingredients won't be available this fall: surprise.
A round-table discussion titled "Values-Based Messaging" felt especially toothless. Ted Nordhaus, a co-director of the Breakthrough Institute and co-founder of American Environics, spoke about "marginal middle-agers" and alienated voters who are threatened by the complexity of the modern world. The conservative, authoritarian person, he said, meaning the Bush voter, has an "aversion to complexity and a desire for cognitive closure." Before those folks can become Democrats, he counseled, "we need to help them manage complexity and get the closure they need." Asked how Democrats should give them those things, Nordhaus suggested they make like Republicans and "draw fault lines that define who they are." Democrats, said Nordhaus, "don't have a clear story about who they are. Instead we get laundry lists of policies." When the hour was over, Nordhaus hadn't said what those fault lines or that story should be, and no one had asked.
Depending on your point of view, the American Dream Initiative that Hillary Clinton presented Monday, with its talk of block grants and tax credits, is either a clear story or a laundry list of policies. It is certainly part of the blueprint for a presidential campaign.
While Russ Feingold and Wes Clark do far better in presidential straw polls among the politically engaged progressives on such blogs as Daily Kos, Hillary Clinton is far and away the preferred candidate of those more numerous Democratic voters who don't spend their days hitting the refresh button. She also outpolls all of the other presidential wannabes who got face time in Denver, Vilsack, Bayh and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. The blog-savvy Mark Warner of Virginia may have done himself more good by not coming to Colorado.
After her speech, Hillary was swamped by adoring officials from all over the country who lined up to have their pictures taken with her. Though she looked tired, she was chic in slimming black with a choker around her neck, and her bright white smile lopped two decades off her 58 years. They were the only real teeth anybody in Denver showed on Monday.
About the writer
Eileen Welsome is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author who lives in Denver. Her second book, "The General and the Jaguar," was published in June.
Story finder (3 ways to search Salon)
Salon Directory (browse by topic)