The Campaign For The Bush Agenda

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman recently told NBC News' Elizabeth Wilner his assessment of the media's coverage of the White House. She writes, "He ventured that we were treating President Bush's Social Security proposal like a political campaign rather than what it really is: a legislative effort." But "it's no accident" says Wilner. "The techniques of the campaign trail have become a staple of the Bush White House's approach to pushing its legislative agenda." The group Progress for America may best exemplify the synthesis between electoral work and legislative advocacy. The group has recently been in the news pushing Bush's judicial appointments, opposing judicial filibusters, attacking Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid, and promoting Social Security privatization. The Progress for America Voter Fund, a 527 group, spent $35,631,378 in support of Bush's reelection, making it the eighth largest spending 527 group of 2004. Democratic strategist Jim Jordan called the efforts, "supersized versions of the fights by business interests," Wilner writes.