Tom DeLay: The Message or the Machine?

For years, the media -- either out of ignorance or mendacity -- perpetuated the myth that elections basically came down to Republican money (because all conservatives are rich) versus Democrat shoe leather (because liberals are all passionate and hard-working).


Like most stereotypes, the media got it exactly backwards. For most of the post-Watergate campaign finance era, Republicans won their victories thanks to strong grass-roots organizing and Democrats did their best thanks to a smaller but preposterously wealthy donor base.

Things started to change as President Bill Clinton's administration ended in 2001. Thousands of well-connected, battle-hardened, experienced and talented political operatives were out on their ears in the wake of the Republican Party's sweep of the 2000 elections. The Clintonistas lacked influence and jobs. Around that time a handful of smart and extremely wealthy liberals decided it was time to close the gap on the Republicans' enormous advantage in grass-roots politicking. It worked.

Yes, the Republican Party under Karl Rove, Ed Gillespie and Ken Mehlman broke new ground on the precision of their voter identification and mobilization technologies, but what the Clinton administration-in-exile has put together in the last six years is nothing short of incredible -- admirable from the perspective of pure politics and terrifying from the perspective of a conservative hoping to reverse the outcomes of the 2006 elections next time around.

The sizable liberal coalition's true strength is its unity, its diversity and especially its bankroll. Conservative activist David Horowitz has begun the process of unpacking and cataloguing what he calls the left's " Shadow Party." Centered on an organization called the Open Society Institute, a granting entity endowed with more than $330 million from George Soros, the liberal coalition has branched off into every direction imaginable. On the fringes are some real doozies that, among other things, have called for the United Nations to ban all private ownership of guns and the defense fund for a lawyer convicted of aiding and abetting a terrorist mastermind.

But the bulk of the money is going to former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta to start a think tank, the Center for American Progress. It's going to Harold Ickes to coordinate political activities. It's going to MoveOn.org to muster local activists. It's going to the Thunder Road Group, a political and media strategy firm run by former Clinton and John Kerry flack Jim Jordan. It's going to America Coming Together to identify and mobilize Democrat votes.

Most of all, the money is going, indirectly, into the real and in-kind coffers of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. The Clinton administration-in-exile has worked harder than either party in the last six years to restore what is, in their mind, the natural order of American politics: liberalism ascendant with the Clintons back in the White House and themselves back running the government.

What this network of tax-exempt foundations, "educational" organizations, 527 political groups, and political businesses has accomplished in a short time is staggering. A good case in point is the defeat of U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif. Until last year, the Northern Californian was chairman of the Resources Committee, and a good one at that. In 2006, admittedly a tough year for Republicans, he lost to a relatively weak challenger by six percentage points.

And the Democrat Party hardly spent a dime on the race. Pombo wasn't defeated by Jerry McNerney or the Democrat Party, but by George Soros and his Shadow Party. His organizations and operatives provided the money, the television ads, the grass-roots manpower, and the media connections, with the card signed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It makes you wonder whether the former first lady really intended her crack about the existence of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" to be an insult, or a compliment.

Tom DeLay, a Republican, represented Houston from 1985 to 2006. During his climb up the GOP ladder, he served as minority whip and majority leader. He runs a conservative blog at www.TomDeLay.com.