Parties Put Coalition Builders in Place

Coalition-building--the art of bringing together an array of constituent blocs or advocacy groups behind a single political purpose--looks to figure prominently in the political parties' strategies for the next election cycle, as indicated by two significant moves by the RNC and DNC this week.

 

In his first major announcement as RNC chairman, Michael Steele created a distinct department for coalition work today and named Angela Sailor, formerly director of African American affairs at the RNC, to head it. While the RNC has had people in charge of coalition work before, the distinct department is new.

Earlier in the week, the DNC named as its new communications director Brad Woodhouse, president of Americans United for Change, who has made a name for himself creating coalitions of progressive groups to support legislative and campaign agendas. Most recently, Woodhouse was a major impetus behind the Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery, a massive coalition of 24 liberal action groups dedicated to passing President Obama's stimulus.

While coalition-building may seem an obvious necessity to organizing power and building majorities, the renewed focus raises the question: what does "coalition-building" mean for each party?

For the RNC, according to an RNC official it means drawing support from voting blocs like African Americans and Hispanics, as well as organizing conservative interest groups to reach out to them. While John McCain made a point to reach out to Hispanics during the 2008 election, airing Spanish-language radio ads in Hispanic-populated states, Steele has signaled repeatedly that he wants to broaden the party's appeal; the new department appears to be a conduit for that strategic agenda.

The Democratic case is a bit more complicated.

Traditionally, progressive activist groups and labor unions have organized into coalitions outside of the Democratic Party, sharing resources and helping each other reach out to voters whose interests may correspond with those of one particular organization. While it just hired a prominent progressive to run its messaging, the party's reach has to be broader than that consolidated progressive wing.

President Obama's campaign--which appealed to many voters and turned them out in machine-like fashion--trumped both the party and the traditional coalitions of the left in 2008 in organizing coalition-building prowess. Obama's campaign apparatus has now become Organizing for America and has been placed under the umbrella of the DNC. So when it comes to coalition building among groups of voters, the DNC now has a broader voice and a more powerful means of doing so.