Earlier this week I blogged about the conservative organization Freedoms Watch as one of the top "Players" in my New Guards series.

More evidence has emerged - in the form of another petty DCCC attack against the organization - which further supports our argument that Freedoms Watch is indeed making a difference.

Walter Alarkon of The Hill's Briefing Room blog has the full scoop:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has filed another complaint against a television ad run by a conservative advocacy group in Louisiana’s 6th congressional district race.

In its complaint to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the DCCC charges that the spot by Freedom’s Watch, which tries to tie the Democratic candidate Don Cazayoux to excessive government spending, breaks election law by taking a position on Cazayoux’s voting record. The DCCC views this as an appeal to vote against Cazayoux, which is prohibited three weeks before an election. The complaint also argues that the group broke the law by failing to disclose donors who each gave $1,000 or more for “the purpose of furthering electioneering communications.”

This is the DCCC’s second complaint to the FEC over the ad; last week, it had accused Freedom’s Watch with illegally coordinating its message with the National Republican Congressional Committee, which had run a similar ad about Cazayoux.

Here's the ad in question:

Part II of a III part series analyzing why MoveOn.org has been successful for the Left and what entities on the Right are doing to help counter that effort.

Ed. Disclosure: The organizations listed below are not listed in any particular order and I'm only focusing on a handful of the organizations. Indeed, there are other organizations which I've included as "Entities to Watch" at the end of this piece. From time to time, I may have worked or pitched business to some of these groups and know well some of the people involved within the organizations. If I should have included another organization, feel free to contact me at David.All AT TechRepublican DOT com and start the conversation.

Today's piece in the Washington Post regarding the search for GOP donors to find the one organization that will help the Right catch up to the Left is well-timed given the fact that today I'm taking a closer look at some of the players who are seeking to fill this void.

In my opinion, these are the groups that are extremely well-funded and are making a run at being the "MoveOn.org for the Right."

* Freedoms Watch [501(c)4] *

Given the amount of money behind the effort from a very small crew of Republicans, the next MoveOn for the Right could someday be Freedoms Watch (Resources: Washington Post profile, PolitickerME blog post).

I've termed Freedoms Watch the "bad boys of conservative politics" as a nod to Lee Atwater. Among other things, Atwater served as the Party's Chairman and was very much in touch with the establishment. From what I've seen, heard, and read about Freedoms Watch, they too are very much in-step with the GOP establishment.

Freedoms Watch has been playing a valuable role in Special Election races across the country -- airing ads that help draw a contrast on where the Democrat stands on the issues as counter to a Republican position.

For all of its early success (particularly helping ensure Congressman Bob Latta won his special election in Ohio-5 and now playing in a Louisiana Congressional race), every now and then something bubbles up about the operation that leads me to believe that they're still understandably figuring out the path.

Two examples include it's former CEO Bradley Blakeman resigning earlier this year and the alleged recent meta data gaffe. True or not, the meta data issue was brought to light by Democrats -- proof positive that Freedoms Watch is on their radar - perhaps a good sign.

Of note, Freedoms Watch has resources and lots of it. This gives them the luxury of both having a hip office downtown that compares to Google's (I've been to both) and continues to pick-up talented Republican political operatives like Carl Forti and Ed Patru who know exactly what they're doing behind the wheel of a massive political entity.

But oddly, it’s those same resources that could destroy the operation. At least that’s what I glean after reading Michael Luo’s piece earlier this month in the New York Times. I'd add that any massive organization which has been under media and Democratic scrutiny as intensely as Freedoms Watch has will understandably meet a few bumps along the road so I doubt this will cripple the entity.

Of course, I'd like to see Freedoms Watch engage the online space even more using modern campaign techniques like effectively building email lists and the drafting of clever email marketing campaigns. The top-down organization needs to level out and find its voice from within the community. Given the pool of talent leaving some of the Presidential campaigns, my guess is that they'll pick-up an A-list online political operative in the near future. Stay tuned.

* Coalition for a Conservative Majority [501(c)4] *

The Coalition for a Conservative Majority is being led by Ken Blackwell and was founded by Tom DeLay (Resources: Washington Times profile, PolitickerME blog post).

CCM is a 501(c)4 and its mission is to "provide American conservatives a new voice in public policy and politics by inspiring, identifying, organizing and training them to become directly engaged in American citizenship and become effective activists for conservative principles and ideas."

CCM's approach to organizing and deploying grassroots support for candidates is unique. Its primary goal is driving a conservative agenda through the House and Senate, and CCM does not run ads. As other groups raise funds to fight the air wars, CCM will provide troops on the ground trained in using political guerilla warfare tactics to drive earned media, voter education, and outreach in their strategic media markets.

Since January, CCM has opened up chapters in the following targeted media markets: Columbus, Houston, Denver, Colorado Springs, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, with chapters opening in Scranton and Pittsburgh after the PA primary.

Like Freedoms Watch, another sign of CCM's success is what the Democrats are saying. Donna Brazile recently sent out the third DCCC email attacking CCM as one of "two high-profile organizations at the center of the GOP's sinister strategy" (Freedoms Watch was the second).

As a hat-tip to their willingness to engage the modern world, Ken and Tom helped announce the organization at the Conservative bloggers briefing which Joe covered in this space in November. That's a good start.

The team behind CCM from the top to the bottom is very good. They "get it," have a proven track-record of results, and are quietly organizing and making a difference in campaigns.

* American Future Fund [501(c)4] *

The American Future Fund "operates as a 501(c)(4) and was formed to provide Americans with a conservative and free market viewpoint to have a mechanism to communicate and advocate on the issues that most interest and concern them. Conservative and free market principles will be under direct attack in America. In light of that, it is imperative there be a voice for conservative principles that sustains free market ideals focused on bolstering America's global competitiveness across the country."

Admittedly, it is this organization that I know the least about other than what I’ve found on their website and in the media.

AFF emerged on the scene in March in support of U.S. Senator Norm Coleman through this TV ad. I don't personally know the folks behind AFF other than the piece I've read on them in the Washington Post which alerted me about their efforts in Minnesota. This sentence from that article leads me to believe that the effort is just getting started but will likely continue to make a difference: "[AFF is] a group with ties to several high-profile Republican consultants."

Today's Washington Post story quotes Phillip A. Musser, a Republican consultant for the organization as saying, "The soft-money landscape has changed. There are a lot of organizations interested in taking on various slivers of this election, but nothing has coalesced around the presidential contest in the way we saw in 2004."

We'll keep an eye on the effort and add more as we find it.

* Club for Growth [501(c)4 & PAC] *

The Club For Growth, to my knowledge, was one of the first to emerge in early 2000 as an entirely organic defined political entity. Its wikipedia entry is thorough and serves as a good resource on the history of the organization.

From their about section, "Club for Growth is a national network of thousands of Americans, from all walks of life, who believe that prosperity and opportunity come through economic freedom. We work to promote public policies that promote economic growth primarily through legislative involvement, issue advocacy, research, training and educational activity. The primary tactic of the separate Club for Growth PAC is to provide financial support from Club members to viable pro-growth candidates to Congress, particularly in Republican primaries."

To be sure, the CFG is not a "loved" organization by the Republican establishment. They play often in primaries both through running their own independent, hard contrasting TV spots and also raise money from their membership for the candidates they endorse. I worked on a campaign in 2006 that was supported by Club For Growth members and when checks arrived via FedEx it was essentially Christmas for our cash-strapped campaign.

CFG "gets" modern campaign warfare and they put resources in to that effort. Their comprehensive online effort has been led remarkably well by Andy Roth. Andy consistently drives their message strategically through many mediums with creativity and cleverness. After all, who could forget this ad against Howard Dean? The Club's website itself is a well-written and often quoted blog and they're even launching micro-site efforts to focus like a laser on particular issues. For example check out the sub-site, VP Watch.

The Club For Growth, as a brand, is very well-defined and received by its more than 40k members. Those members are wired, wealthy and active - a lethal combination.

To be sure, the CFG has had its share of dust-ups with campaigns and candidates on both sides of the aisle and the FEC for alleged infractions. But to its credit, it has endured and will continue to make a difference in this space with or without the blessing of the establishment.

"Entities to Watch"

There are several organizations on the Right which are worth noting as entities to watch. Some of these organizations focus specifically on policy initiatives and legislation, state-based efforts, have yet to launch (but are expected to), or have yet to engage in specific campaigns in this election cycle.

A handful of those organizations worth watching include the Foundation for Defense of Democracies which was tagged in today's Washington Post article, the Sam Adams Alliance, TheVanguard.org, FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, and American Solutions.

Part III of this series will take a closer look at some of the entities I believe play a role more specifically in Henke's three M's: Messaging, Money, and Mobilization. It will be available soon.

Are there more players competing for this space? What do you think of the efforts of those I have profiled? Weigh in at the comments.

* Read part I of the New Guards series, "Why MoveOn Matters."
* Read part III of the New Guards series, "An Empowered Rightosphere."

If you haven't yet heard of Freedoms Watch, lend me your ear. You need to know this.

As you know, this past Tuesday there were two Special Elections (Oh-5, VA-01) to replace Republican Members of Congress who had passed away suddenly. The Republican candidates running were Bob Latta and Rob Wittman who both won their races by comfortable margins.

However, while the Virginia seat was a lock, (Wittman was polling high throughout and held a 4-1 cash advantage over his opponent), the Ohio race was much, much closer than expected.

Toward the end of the race, both the NRCC and DCCC dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars in to the race for their respective candidates with media buys.

And as Matt Margolis reported at Blogs for Victory, the Democrats tossed basically everything at the race.

On the Republican netroots side of the campaign effort, Latta's campaign was propped up by Redstate, Blogs For Victory, Big Red Tent, and Slatecard. (Disclosure: I am a co-founder of Slatecard.)

However, Freedoms Watch, a new conservative powerhouse backed with funding rumored in the hundreds of millions of dollars, also showed up on the field of battle. And they brought something which we bloggers lack -- money.

In fact, in the last few days of the campaign, Freedoms Watch aired this TV ad with a media buy rumored to be close to $500K in the Toledo, OH media market helping educate voters on the Democratic opponent, Robin Weirauch:

Of note, as reported by the Politico, the Democratic Chairman of the DCCC, Chris Van Hollen, has taken notice of Freedoms Watch:

According to Van Hollen, one of several factors that helped Republicans in Ohio was the third-party money spent by Freedom's Watch, a conservative organization headed by former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. The group spent in the six-figures on an anti-Weirauch attack ad accusing her of supporting "free healthcare for illegal aliens."

"As we saw again in OH-05, our main competition is likely to be Republican 527s, not the NRCC. This cycle Republican 527s have pledged more than a quarter billion dollars toward beating Democrats," Van Hollen wrote in the memo.

The chairman predicted that Freedom's Watch is prepared to spend "an additional $200 million" against Democrats this election cycle.

Further proof that Chris Van Hollen still doesn't really know what he's talking about, Freedoms Watch is actually a 501(C)4 and not a 527.

But seriously: $200 million to help defeat Democrats, folks. That's going to change the landscape for 2008.

The mission of Freedoms Watch:

Freedom's Watch was formed to promote the common good and general welfare of the American people by supporting mainstream conservative public policies. We engage in grassroots lobbying, education and information campaigns, and issue advocacy to further our goals and objectives. We also seek to create coalitions and collaborate with like-minded groups and individuals to further our common goals. Freedom's Watch provides a credible conservative voice and strong leadership on pressing domestic and international issues to keep America strong, safe, and prosperous.

Freedoms Watch is a new force in conservative politics and I'm glad that they showed up on the field to help us hold Ohio-5. They need our help, encouragement, and support as they get this ship off the landing pad.