Building The Next Paul Wellstone

Gloria A. Totten

January 20, 2005

Were progressives too obsessed with winning the presidency at the expense of other races in 2004? Perhaps, says Totten, executive director of Progressive Majority. Although their dominance seems overwhelming, conservatives worked for more than 30 years to rebound from their position as outsiders in U.S. politics. Now, progressives need to think long term about building the next generation of leaders.

Gloria A. Totten is the executive director of Progressive Majority .. Progressive Majority focuses on building the next generation of progressive leaders by training progressive candidates to run for election and state and local levels.

This week, right-wing conservatives celebrate far more than the swearing in of George W. Bush.  They’re celebrating the culmination of a 30-year campaign by the conservative movement to reach the pinnacle of American politics. Their banner candidate, George W. Bush, begins a second term with a strengthened conservative majority in the Congress and control of the majority of governorships and state legislatures across the country. 

This wasn’t always the case. Rewind to the late 1970s. Democrats were in control.  Jimmy Carter was president.  Both chambers of Congress were held by the Democrats. There were only 12 Republican governors.  Republicans controlled only 11 state legislatures. 

But at the same time, a resurgence was brewing on the right. A cadre of aggressive, young conservative leaders were developing new strategies for seizing power.  These early foot soldiers first worked outside the Republican Party structure—creating new tactics for mass mobilization and fundraising, developing hundreds of media voices for radio and television, building independent candidate recruitment and support operations.  They moved into government slowly as elected officials, aides and policy experts.  Over time, they moved inside and took over the Republican Party.

None of this was by accident.  The far right made their gains because decades ago, they planned and invested in a concerted, intentional and strategic long-term political effort to take power.  They worked over years to see their vision become reality. They didn’t just focus on one strategy, one race, one body of power. 

It spells trouble in this country if our future is in the hands of one person running for one office.  Did we invest too much at the top of the ticket this year while eschewing the hard work of building the base necessary at the local level?  Long-term change will only be accomplished by rededicating ourselves to developing a permanent and sophisticated program to recruit candidates.

How do we do this? By encouraging movement progressives to run for office at all levels of government. By grooming future leaders, so we can capture an enduring governing majority for positive change. By training progressive leaders to become effective politicians who can connect with voters on many levels. By building a pool of committed, qualified candidates so we aren't reliant on the outcome of one race—even if that race is for the highest office in the land. 

And we know this strategy works. For the 2004 election, Progressive Majority  built a "farm team" of 100 progressives to run for public office. We are recruiting, training and electing the next generation of "Paul Wellstones" who will champion a progressive agenda, engage people in politics and win elections—even in tough states.

In Washington State, Progressive Majority made it our number-one political goal to shift control of the State Senate—and we did. We held our ground in Wisconsin even though conservatives turned out in record numbers. And we elected two new progressive stars to the Pennsylvania legislature as part of our long-term strategy for taking that state back for progressives. In all, 41 of our candidates won election.  Notably, 33 who lost will continue in our program—we will work with them to run again, become even more effective candidates and win election next time around.

Candidate recruitment and development is just one component of an urgently needed plan to put progressives in positions of power so they can advance a progressive agenda for America. This last election cycle, progressives began building a powerful infrastructure to run campaigns, develop policy ideas, disseminate message, mobilize voters, recruit activists and more.  MoveOn.org, America Coming Together, Wellstone Action, Democracy for America and the Center for American Progress represent some of the dynamic, new organizing talent on the left.  And as they should, they are building effectively on the long-standing work accomplished by the labor, environmental, women’s and civil rights groups—groups that remain the backbone of our movement.

Progressive are now organizing with the level of cooperation and discipline necessary to defeat the right and build a majority in American politics.  A majority that can transform America—by providing opportunity to everyone, ensuring fairness and tolerance, encouraging prosperity that is widely shared, guaranteeing a fair start and equal opportunity for all, making health care a priority, giving seniors genuine security, protecting the environment and making sure everyone has the right to privacy. 

There is a level of focus rarely seen on our side. It began because of a unified desire to defeat Bush and it continues because our work is needed now more than ever before.

Progressives must maintain the discipline and maturity to prepare for the long term.  We must continue to build own independent political effort—engage in strategies that serve short and long-term goals and ensure we’re building a movement to change the country, not simply win one election. 

George W. Bush’s victory on November 2 should serve as the worst possible example for why it is time for progressives to develop our own long-term plan for winning—at all levels.  His swearing in should mark the moment we commit ourselves as strategists, donors, organizers and activists to carry out such a plan and to settle for nothing short of a multi-year, multi-faceted strategy.