Subject: Re: Progressive Media USA Ditches Ad Effort
From: "Anna Burger" <[email-masked]>
To: "John Podesta" <[email-masked]>, "Amy Dacey" <[email-masked]>, "John Stocks" <[email-masked]>, "Robert McKay" <[email-masked]>, "Frank Smith" <[email-masked]>, "Mary Pat Bonner" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 14:26:27 -0400

John, seiu conversations with the campaign confirm that they support our type of effort.  I expect them to make a public statement soon.  We should go forward

Anna Burger
 202-730-7303

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	John Podesta [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent:	Thursday, May 15, 2008 02:16 PM Eastern Standard Time
To:	Amy Dacey; John Stocks; Anna Burger; Robert McKay; Frank Smith; Mary Pat Bonner
Subject:	Re: Progressive Media USA Ditches Ad Effort

Talked with Tom D. This morning. Asked him to push for a clarification
on field activity/voter mob activities. Mary Pat, what is your advice
re 21st? Kill it? Present state plans?

On 5/15/08, Amy Dacey <[email-masked]> wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Chris Cillizza <[email-masked]>
> Date: Thu, May 15, 2008 at 10:54 AM
> Subject: Progressive Media USA Ditches Ad Effort
> To: Chris Cillizza <[email-masked]>
>
>
>
> http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/05/democratic_media_group_scales.html
>
> Democratic Media Group Ditches Ad Effort
>
> Progressive Media USA, the group organized to be the main soft-money
> advertising vehicle for Democrats in the fall, will dramatically scale back
> its efforts in deference to the wishes of the party's presumptive nominee.
>
> "Progressive Media will not be running an independent ad campaign this
> year," David Brock, the head of the organization, confirmed in a statement
> obtained by The Fix this morning.
>
> "Progressive Media was established to be an independent on-going progressive
> issue advocacy organization," Brock added. "We were not established for one
> issue, one candidate or one election cycle. But donors and potential donors
> are getting clear signals from the Obama camp through the news media and we
> recognize that reality."
>
> Those familiar with the group's decision cast it as largely the result of
> the stated desire of Sen. Barack Obama's campaign to not direct funds to
> outside organizations in hopes of better controlling the Democratic message
> in the fall. But the group was also struggling to raise the money necessary
> to be a major force in the presidential race and was riven by internal
> divisions.
>
> During a gathering of Obama's national finance committee earlier this month
> in Indianapolis, it was made clear to these top donors that they should
> concentrate on raising money for the candidate and not spend their time
> funding independent organizations of which Progressive Media USA is one.
>
> That warning made Progressive Media USA's already difficult task -- raising
> tens of millions of dollars in short order from skeptical donors with the
> unsuccessful soft money efforts of 2004 still on their mind -- almost
> impossible. Without buy-in (literally) from Obama's major donors, it's
> extremely unlikely deep-pocketed Clinton backers would fund the effort to
> help elect the Illinois senator on their own.
>
> The downscaling of Progressive Media USA is the latest chapter of the
> group's short but turbulent history. The group, which was initially led by
> Tom Matzzie, former Washington director for Moveon.org, was originally known
> as Campaign to Defend America when it was formed in the fall of 2007. The
> budget for the effort, according to Matzzie, was $100 million.
>
> The group struggled to gain traction, however, and in early April liberal
> media critic David Brock took control of the group -- promising a $40
> million media onslaught against Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).
>
> (Those familiar with the group say that Brock and Matzzie were like oil and
> water stylistically, and their differences made it difficult to put everyone
> involved with the organization on the same page.)
>
> The reformed group drew immediate attention with an ad that painted McCain
> as a clone of President George W. Bush on the economy. But the extended ad
> campaign promised by many within Progressive Media USA never materialized --
> likely due to a lack of available resources.
>
> The financial struggles of Progressive Media USA are the rule not the
> exception in this presidential election. Soft-money groups seemed to have
> reached their zenith in 2004 when progressive-aligned organizations like
> America Coming Together and Media Fund as well as conservative-backed groups
> like Progress for America and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth had an
> undeniably large influence over the outcome of the election.
>
> Four years later, outside groups on both sides of the aisle have experienced
> all sorts of problems in securing the cash to fund any sort of serious
> independent effort. That lack of success is particularly true at the
> presidential level, where Progressive Media USA's collapse comes on the
> heels of a decision to turn Freedom's Watch from a conservative-aligned
> presidential vehicle to one that spends its time and money on House races.
>
> It's hard to imagine that big-dollar donors won't seek to exert their
> influence in some substantial way in the run-up to the 2008 election. But so
> far the vehicles that have tried to do just that have run out of gas after
> traveling just a few miles.
>
> Chris Cillizza
> "The Fix"
> The Washington Post
> [email-masked]
>
>
>
>
> --
> Amy K. Dacey
> Executive Director
> Fund for America
> 202-730-7727
>

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