E-Mail This Article to a Friend CATCHING UP Baby steps BY DEIRDRE FULTON

Over the summer, the Phoenix reported on a handful of young, progressive organizations whose approaches to fundraising, organizing, and training are part of the changing landscape on the political left (see "Generation Next," News and Features, August 6). Most of the groups had long-term goals in mind. But one bit of Election Day news serves as evidence that these new cogs in the Democratic infrastructure are taking small and steady steps toward success.

The Campaign for a National Majority (CNM) is a fundraising operation launched about a year ago by a group of five successful Northeastern twentysomethings who reached out to friends, acquaintances, and professional and academic contacts nationwide to create a network of supporters. The 527 organization bundles smaller contributions, mostly from young, liberal professionals, and funnels them to the campaign coffers of preselected Democratic candidates in local races. Through CNM, young people are able to give small donations where it counts, while supporting local candidates who will (ideally) form a national base for a new Democratic majority.

This year, CNM chose two candidates to benefit from its "test run," in which the group raised several thousand dollars. On Election Day, both candidates — David Liebowitz for the Texas House of Representatives and Jeff Danielson for Iowa Senate — won their respective races. In an extremely close contest, Liebowitz inched past Ken Mercer, the Republican incumbent, who had worked with the state’s influential US representative, Tom DeLay, on a controversial redistricting plan that benefited Texas conservatives. In Iowa, Danielson defeated his Republican rival, Frank Dowie, by a margin of 54 percent to 46 percent. Iowa’s Senate is now tied between Democrats and Republicans.

Michael Fertik, one of CNM’s leaders, is excited for two reasons. First, these victories have inspired "a surge of people interested in our group," the 25-year-old Harvard Law School student says, "because there wasn’t a lot of great Democratic news last week." Second, the group’s success "vindicates our suspicion and our goal — our ideal — of really spending a lot of time researching and ID-ing good candidates in good races."

This is important because Fertik and his fellow Campaign-ers are interested in being more than just a channel for cash. They chose their races with care, selecting the Texas contest because they thought the redistricting story would be compelling for out-of-staters, and the Iowa match because it involved an open seat that could tip the balance in Iowa’s legislature to the left. That’s part of CNM’s appeal — it does all the work and chooses the important races. All potential donors (lots of CNM’s supporters are from blue states, such as Massachusetts and New York) have to do is write the check.

They don’t want "easy gimmes"; nor will they tackle unwinnable races, Fertik says. These are "career endorsements," he adds. For example, Danielson, at 34, is a prime candidate to move up the political ranks.

"Our goal," says Fertik, "is to get so good at this that we become the branding agent of the Democratic Party, so when we endorse somebody, everybody knows that a lot of time and energy has gone into endorsing this candidate."

Now that the group has gotten the hang of it, CNM is looking toward 2005. Members are compiling a list of candidates across the country who might be worthy of CNM’s help, which they will soon narrow down to three or four candidates. Armed with their success rate, they’re actively recruiting donors — Fertik expects to do some networking during this weekend’s Harvard-Yale football game.

"The Republicans have been doing this for 25 to 30 years," Fertik says. "And it’s been paying off. They’ve been doing it by getting in early and focusing on these local races. Now it’s our turn."

For more information on the Campaign for a National Majority, e-mail michael@nationalmajority.org.