Democratic Leadership Council

The Democratic Leadership Council is an influential non-profit corporation that advocates centrist and neoliberal positions for the United States Democratic Party. Moderate party leaders founded the DLC in response to the landslide victory of Republican candidate Ronald Reagan over Democratic candidate Walter Mondale during the 1984 Presidential election. The founders believed the United States Democratic Party needed to reform their political philosophy if they were to ever retake the White House, a goal which had eluded the Democrats since the 1976 election of Jimmy Carter. The DLC hails President Clinton as proof of the viability of third way politicians and a DLC success story. Critics contend that the DLC is effectively a powerful, corporate-financed mouthpiece within the Democratic party that acts to keep Democratic Party candidates and platforms sympathetic to corporate interests and the interests of the wealthy.

Founding and Early History

The DLC was founded in 1985 by (mostly Southern) Democrats who were concerned that traditional liberal positions would doom their party to permanent minority status. The organization started as a group of forty-three elected officials, and two staffers, Al From and Will Marshall. Their original focus was on influencing internal Democratic politics so as to secure the 1988 presidential nomination for a Southern moderate such as Sam Nunn or Chuck Robb, both of whom were early DLC supporters. But when the DLC's pet project, the Super Tuesday primary, turned out to be a boon for the Reverend Jesse Jackson, a vocal critic of the DLC, the group realized it would have to advocate its ideas publicly.

Related Topics:
Southern - Liberal - Will Marshall - Sam Nunn - Chuck Robb - Jesse Jackson

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In 1989, Marshall founded the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank which ever since has turned out policy blueprints for the DLC.

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