Dean, meanwhile, has (predictably) defended MoveOn, expressing shock at the other campaigns' whining. "To question the integrity of MoveOn and its 1.4 million members is outrageous and only serves to further erode the American people's belief that their voices matter," he said in a statement last week. Dean's campaign manager, Joe Trippi, has suggested that the only reason complaining candidates are participating in the primary is to make sure Dean doesn't get 50 percent of the vote and the potential war chest that would come with it.

Boyd continues to insist that the controversy misses the point, since MoveOn makes no secret of favoring candidates that share its members' values. "We are giving more presence to three of the nine candidates, so it's natural for some of the candidates to complain about that, but they did agree to the process and we are going forward with it," he says.

As for Exley's work with the Dean campaign, Boyd argues that given Dean's emphasis on using the Web to organize progressives, it makes sense that his campaign would seek expertise from MoveOn. "We've offered to share best practices publicly and privately for many years," says Boyd. "I've personally made the offer to staffers at dozens of campaigns and advocacy organizations. The Dean campaign is the first presidential campaign to show significant interest in our on-the-ground organizing using the Web. They asked Zack to spend a couple of weeks to get them up to speed, and we didn't stand in the way. Zack took a leave from MoveOn PAC [MoveOn's lobbying arm] to do this."

While a few candidates fume, one detects a certain amount of glee among staffers of the more progressive campaigns at seeing the staid centrists marginalized for a change. "Dennis has had phenomenal success at his speeches around the country," says David Kelley, issues director for the Dennis Kucinich campaign. "But [some] people, far before the campaign is really in full swing, have already consigned him to being a minor player." If Kucinich beats so-called first-tier candidates in the online primary, "A lot of people will have egg on their faces, and MoveOn is one of the groups that will help deliver that little bit of yolk."

That's not quite what MoveOn says it's aiming for, but the group openly admits that it is trying to gain a bit of control over the means by which the Democratic candidate is chosen so that progressive issues aren't shunted aside. Boyd says the "fundamental reason" MoveOn organized the primary is because "we think the field is being determined now" in venues off-limits to ordinary voters. "Why shouldn't ordinary people play?" he asks. "We as a group had discussed this for a while. The general advice we've gotten is lay back and wait and see what happens, because you don't want to take the risk of getting involved with a candidate who's not going to go the distance. For us that's not the point. We think ordinary citizens should get involved when decisions are being made."

The questions MoveOn asked Democratic hopefuls reflect the group's interest in defining issues, as well as picking candidates. Members participated, via the Internet, in framing and selecting the queries, seven of which were ultimately put to the candidates. (Only Joe Lieberman declined to answer them.) They are not the kind of questions that come up on talk shows or TV debates. "The enactment of Patriot Act I is a dangerous erosion of civil liberties in the United States," begins one. "The proposed Patriot Act II is even more frightening. The purpose of both pieces of legislations [sic] seems to be the stifling of dissent rather than improving security in the U.S. If elected would you revisit the Patriot Act with the view of revising or repealing it?" Another, about intelligence failures under Bush's watch, asks, "Will any candidate demand the truth and an end to this conspiracy of deceit?" A third wants to know how the candidate proposes to communicate "the disastrous effects of the current administration" to a scared or complacent public.

By getting candidates to answer questions with a distinctly progressive spin, MoveOn hopes to engage left-leaning Democrats, alienated by mainstream politics, in an electoral process that addresses their issues. "These are people saying, 'Don't let other people make up your mind,'" Kelley says of MoveOn. "You make up your mind. Look at their positions on the Patriot Act, on the tax cut, you take a look at them and you decide. Don't have a newspaper say who's 'electable.' That's your decision."

Recent Stories