Progress Now

Progress Now is a Democratic Party-aligned campaign with eight affiliates using non-profit organizations to defeat Republican Party candidates in the November, 2008, election.

According to National Public Radio, "Michael Huttner, Progress Now's director, says the Colorado-based group is taking advantage of old media and new technologies to gin up interest for an issue. 'We'll put out a press release for the mainstream media, and then literally hours later, we'll send out an e-mail on the same topic to tens of thousands of people,' Huttner says. 'The press actually get those e-mails sent to them. And then the press decides to write a story. And then when people read the story, then they go to the Web site and even take further action.' Officially, the Progress groups aren't considered political organizations. They operate as nonprofits under section 501(c) of the tax code. That means they have to talk in terms of issues, not candidates.  ...  The Left has never had anything like this — a place in cyberspace for groups to coordinate and deliver their messages to activists. And there's nothing like it on the Right. The Progress Now network began forming in 2006. Initial financing came from a coalition of big-dollar donors called the Democracy Alliance, which wants to build a long-lasting progressive infrastructure."

Website

 * http://www.progressnow.org/page/content/org-home/

SourceWatch Resources

 * Barack Obama
 * John McCain
 * Democracy Alliance