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Parties by the people, not the party
BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN
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WEDNESDAY, July 28, 2004 -- Few Bostonians realize it, but we are experiencing a very different convention-hosting experience than any city in any year before. The reason, obscurely enough, is the McCain-Feingold campaign finance regulation that became law in 2002. It turned political party fundraising into so-called "hard money," which -- without getting too technical about it -- significantly reduced the ability of the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and similar party groups to raise and spend money. In previous Presidential election years, these committees paid for the bulk of the significant external events in the host city during the convention, and therefore controlled their content, their themes, their purposes, and their speaker lists. The party -- and the candidate through the party -- called the shots. Everything was aligned with the message. (I have been told that Karl Rove shut down plans for a food festival during the Republican convention in Philadelphia four years ago because it didn’t fit with the message of the convention.) Because of McCain-Feingold, those committees are financially supporting very few events in Boston this week. That left an exciting opportunity up for grabs, and Boston happens to be filled with progressive individuals and institutions who can dream up great events and raise the money to make them happen. And they can do it how they want, not how the party says! One of the results, for several thousand women (and some men), was an amazing event called Revolutionary Women at the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. It was put together by local firecracker Barbara Lee, a long-time Democratic Party activist, donor, and fundraiser, who saw the opportunity coming, formed a 527 political committee last fall, and made the thing happen. US Senators Debbie Stabenow, Barbara Mikulski, Barbara Boxer, Patty Murray, and Blanche Lincoln were one workshop panel out of eleven. Get the idea? Howard Dean, one of the most sought-after speakers in the country right now, introduced the five featured speakers. And if John Kerry or the DNC had decided that they didn’t want such a woman-focused event? Or had wanted to nix the Mass Equality booth (which gathered some 1000 hand-written postcards supporting gay marriage) because of Kerry’s position on that subject? Or had said not to let groups sell "No Bush" panties? Lee could tell them to go screw. Just like organizers of the Monday’s Boston Hip Hop Summit wouldn’t have to listen if someone at the party had said to uninvite recent arrestee DMX. Or Progressive Book Club wouldn’t have to listen if the DNC had said you can’t have RFK Jr. at your book panel, we need him at a private function that afternoon. Go screw. Nothing against the parties, but I’ll take those three events over anything the Terry McAuliffe would have planned. And there have been many more, all over town. People for the American Way had one this morning, Campaign for America’s Future is having a three-day convention, and on and on and on. And they can do whatever they want. Is that great or what?
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