Dean's New York Descendents Try to Make a Blue State Bluer

What to do if you’re running a group devoted to promoting progressive Democrat insurgents when most of the incumbents are progressive Democrats themselves?

That’s the dilemma faced for several years now by Democracy for New York City, the local affiliate of Democracy for America, a group that began as an offshoot of Howard Dean’s transformative 2004 presidential campaign.

“I sort of call it the establishment vs. the progressive conflict,” said Lewis Cohen, a former business reporter turned Wall Street investor who, in his spare time, acts as finance chair for the New York group. “It’s the progressive vs. establishment or institutional wing of the party, specifically on a local and state level. There’s no question about that.”

Democracy for America’s political director, Charles Chamberlain, explained it this way: “As an organization, one of the things that makes us different from the Democratic Party itself is that we can take positions in primaries, and do.”

As far as such ideas go, this may be, at least in theory, an ideal time to put it to the test in New York.

“The Democrats are going to be the power structure in New York State,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a consultant who has worked for Bill Clinton and a long list of local Democrats. “They have a two million-plus registration edge on Republicans. The Republican Party is about to become extinct. And whenever one party becomes dominant, a reform movement is created. So they’re at the right historical time.”

But then what?

“The problem with reform,” Mr. Sheinkopf continued, “is to convince everybody else you need it. Not so simple.”

And that’s been the rub so far.

Since its founding in August 2004, DFNYC has endorsed 16 candidates in general elections and primaries, according to Mr. Cohen’s count. But they have yet to back a single winning candidate in a contested primary in New York City: Norman Siegel for public advocate and Gifford Miller for mayor in 2005; Jonathan Tasini for U.S. Senate, Mark Green for attorney general and Chris Owens for Congress in 2006. (They did enjoy some success in a State Senate primary on Long Island, helping activist Jimmy Dahroug beat two better-established Democrats. Mr. Dahroug lost in the general.)

One veteran operative, consultant and former Koch aide, George Arzt, said he wasn’t even aware that the group—which claims 200 members eligible to vote on endorsements, and a 3,000-person e-mail list—was in operation.

“In my travels, I never heard of them,” he said.

For now, the DFA people say, it’s an accomplishment simply to be having the fights. The wins can come later.

“If you’re talking about Democracy for New York City, you’re talking about races where it’s a Democratically safe seat, where there isn’t going to be a Republican running against them, or at least a Republican who really doesn’t have a chance running against them,” Chamberlain said. “And so having the good fight in the primary is what it’s all about.”

In New York, where the establishment and its progressive opponents have often had little of substance to fight over, even that’s not a simple task.

Mr. Cohen said that there are “second-tier issues” on which to judge candidates who are ideologically similar, like how strongly they support technology in the voting booth, or legislation to encourage low-dollar contributors, or procedural reforms in Albany.

At a debate DFNYC co-sponsored in Lower Manhattan this month between veteran State Senator Marty Connor and a credible young challenger, former Schumer aide Dan Squadron, the two candidates clashed sharply over experience and governing style, but on policy, they agreed more than they argued. For example, both said they supported congestion pricing, expanding affordable housing and same-sex marriage.

“It remains to be seen how they define ‘progressive,’” Mr. Connor said afterward. “There’s a tendency on the part of young people to think progressive means somebody their age.” (He hoped this was not the case with DFNYC.)

In a second debate between separate set of candidates that took place at the same event, there was even less grist for substantive argument. Assembly candidates Luke Henry, an attorney, and Paul Newell, a community organizer, took turns criticizing the incumbent in the race, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who did not attend.

“It’s not about Paul and I,” said Mr. Henry during the debate. “I believe we are on the same side of this fight. I believe we have many of the same principles.”

Mr. Newell agreed, and said there’s only one thing that’s important: “The only way we will ever get real change in our legislative rules, get a transparent legislative process, is by defeating Sheldon Silver in a Democratic primary.”

It’s a healthy attitude for an insurgent to have. But also, maybe, a bit much to hope for at the moment.

“The litmus test right now is not victory in every campaign,” Mr. Cohen said. “It’s fighting the good progressive fight and making the candidate as strong as they can be in this specific race.”

apaybarah@observer.com