Armed with new clout, anti-war groups push Democrats

By Michael Luo
NEW YORK TIMES


WASHINGTON -- An elaborate political operation, organized by a coalition of anti-war groups and fine-tuned to wrestle members of Congress into place one by one, has helped nudge the war debate forward.

But there are tensions in the relationship between the groups, which banded together earlier this year under the umbrella of Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, and the Democratic leadership. The fissures could be magnified in coming weeks as Democratic Party leaders struggle to cobble together a strategy after President Bush's veto of the $124 billion Iraq spending bill that tied the money to a timetable for withdrawal.


On Thursday, leaders of the liberal group MoveOn.org, including Tom Matzzie, the group's Washington director and campaign manager, sent a harshly worded warning to the Democratic leadership. "On this, we want to be perfectly clear: If Democrats appear to capitulate to Bush -- passing a bill without measures to end the war -- the unity Democrats have enjoyed and Democratic leadership has so expertly built, will immediately disappear."

The anti-war coalition combines the online mobilization capabilities of MoveOn with the old-school political muscle of organized labor. They have been working in tandem with Democratic leadership in both the House and the Senate on a systematic strategy to unify Democrats, divide Republicans and isolate the president.

The alliance, including MoveOn, chose to stick with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, as she ushered through a war financing bill that included a timeline for withdrawal, but many peace activists called the measure too timid. Some critics accused the alliance of becoming too cozy with the Democratic leadership and selling out the cause.

Many of the major players in Americans Against Escalation in Iraq earned their stripes not from sit-ins, marches and other acts of civil disobedience but as Democratic operatives on Capitol Hill and in political campaigns. The sophisticated political operation they have built is a testament to how far the anti-war movement has come since the Vietnam era.

Tom Andrews, a former Democratic congressman from Maine and the national director of Win Without War, a member of the coalition, said there existed a "healthy tension" between working closely with Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill, many of whom were former colleagues and friends, and continuing to prod them to end the war.

"Our constituency is the people across this country who want to shut this war down," Andrews said. "It's not the Democratic Party."