Members of No Labels rally against extreme partisanship on the West Lawn of the Capitol in July.
“We’re used to everything being tailored for us,” Daschle said. “Parties, at the end of the day, are a means to an end.” Instead of bringing together traditional political types, Ruck.us has formed early partnerships with groups such as StudentsFirst, LiveStrong and Rock the Vote.
Of course not everyone thinks these anti-party groups are a great idea.
“I know the Beltway is enamored with the idea of some great mass middle that is ‘moderate’ and craves representation it can’t get from the two major parties,” said Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos, a prominent liberal blog. “But ideas like No Labels and [Ruck.us] fail to go anywhere because they’re based on what is clearly faulty Beltway conventional wisdom.”
On one level, Daschle agrees.
“The rise of independents, one of the starkest trends of the last decade, is not a rush to the ‘middle,’” Daschle said. “The people are exactly where they have always been. They have just lost their faith in parties.”
That’s part of the reason why Daschle and Chief Strategy Officer Ray Glendening aren’t pushing an ideology with Ruck.us and wouldn’t mind if liberals, conservatives and moderates use the site.
Whether it’s Unity08 or HotSoup.com, it’s true that these groups have had a short shelf life. HotSoup, which launched in 2006, was once dubbed “the MySpace for political junkies,” if that’s any indication of where it ended up. But that’s not discouraging activists this time around.
“HotSoup was a good idea just a little bit ahead of its time,” said McKinnon, also among that group’s founders. “Voter discontent was not nearly as high as it is today, and we couldn’t deliver the kind of technological innovation and solutions that are available today.
“I see all these efforts as synergistic and compatible in the sense that they are all trying in different ways to get people engaged in fixing our broken politics,” McKinnon added. “As tough as things are, we are collectively an optimistic bunch and believe that democracy finds ways to work things out in the end.”
Rep. Bill Cassidy has his blood drawn by Alesha Barbour during a free hepatitis screening in the Rayburn House Office Building hosted by the Congressional Viral Hepatitis Caucus to recognize "National Viral Hepatitis Testing Day."
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