When I was reporting my story on the lessons of 1994, I was told that, shortly before the Clinton plan came out, the Democratic National Committee asked Heather Booth to build their field campaign for the Clinton heath care plan. So Democrats did have a field operation, I asked her last year. She laughed at me. "No," she said. "No." The problem wasn't just that the DNC couldn't get its act together, but that no one on the Left could. Labor was exhausted and angry after the NAFTA fight. The AARP was keeping its powder dry so they could bargain for more gains right before the legislation passed. Organizations like MoveOn, Campaign for America's Future, and Democracy for America didn't exist. "There really wasn't a unified effort on the progressive side," said Booth. "Everyone was fighting for their portion of a bill so strongly that it was hard to fight for something overall. And so we got nothing." The political paralysis did not extend to reform's opponents. The Health Insurance Association of America raised and spent $50 million ($69 million in 2008 dollars). The NFIB flooded Congress with hundreds of thousands of letters, calls, and visits from angry small business owners. The Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, the Manufacturers Association of America, and anyone else you can think of was organizing, spending, and attacking.
