10 years in, MoveOn gaining in strength

Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org, sat in on a ''Call for Change'' phone party in Brooklyn, N.Y., last week. (Helayne Seidman/Washington Post)

NEW YORK - Five days after Senator John McCain named Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate, co-workers Quinn Latimer and Lyra Kilston e-mailed 40 female friends, inviting them to outline the reasons they were upset with his choice. It elicited such a huge response - from friends of friends and utter strangers - that they created a blog called Women Against Sarah Palin. In less than a month, it has become one of the largest hubs of online opposition to Palin, receiving more than 160,000 e-mails.

"I am a fiscally conservative, socially liberal Republican," writes a 65-year-old from Flagstaff, Ariz. "I am aghast at the choice the Republican ticket has made."

"As a registered Independent, I'd been holding out in deciding which way to go on this election. However, once I saw Sarah Palin being interviewed . . . it was a much easier decision," writes a 52-year-old from Los Angeles.

Latimer got an e-mail from Eli Pariser, head of the liberal group MoveOn.org, of which Latimer has been a member since 2000. When Pariser found out that Latimer and Kilston also live in Brooklyn, he asked them to brunch, where he offered technical support from MoveOn. He even suggested the two art editors take time off from their jobs to work full time on the blog until Nov. 4 - and MoveOn could raise the funds to pay them.

"I got to admit I was shocked by that," says Latimer, 30.

The women decided to keep their jobs while maintaining the site. But with help from MoveOn, they'll use the e-mail list of everyone who has written to the blog to send information about voter registration, phone call drives, and house parties.

MoveOn, the enfant terrible of online politicking, is growing up, turning 10 years old last month. And it has become far more than a purveyor of vituperative e-mail blasts. During the 2006 midterm elections, the online organization, with a full-time staff of 23, spent $28 million advocating for Democratic candidates through its political action committee, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. In contrast, the National Rifle Association, with a staff of about 500, spent $11 million through its PAC.

As the battle between Obama and McCain heated up this summer, MoveOn witnessed its largest increase in membership - adding a million new members in three months, bringing its total to 4.2 million. Not bad for a group that started off as an online petition to stop the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Created in September 1998 by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Wes Boyd and Joan Blades, the petition asked Congress to censure Clinton and "move on" to other domestic issues.

Although it's not a formal arm of the Democratic Party - and the group doesn't rule out endorsing and financing third-party candidates - MoveOn has become synonymous with the party's left wing. It's not technically a lobbying group: MoveOn doesn't employ lobbyists who have mastered the ins and outs of Capitol Hill. It's more akin to an interest group, a la Emily's List, the abortion rights organization that supports like-minded female politicians.