The Christian Right played a major role in the reelection of George Bush, as well as in the election or reelection of many members of the U.S. House and Senate. However, the extraordinary over-reaction by many in the media, and by many Democrats, is a product of a sustained ignorance about the growth of the Christian Right as an organized movement over the past 15 years. The success of the Christian Right is at least in part the result of the failure of almost everyone to change they way they do business in response.

The Christian Right has been steadily animating and expanding their base constituency among protestant evangelicals and conservative Catholics for 7 or 8 election cycles now. Major survey data suggest that this movement currently comprises about a quarter of the electorate. There is really nothing surprising about the movement’s growth or its electoral successes. The Christian Right has been the best organized faction in electoral politics for over a decade. Obviously too, there are greater concentrations of Christian Right voters in Red states than in Blue states.

As Democrats and moderate Republicans regroup, they need to consider the key ingredient of the success of the Christian Right. (Its not what most people think.) The main secret to the success of the Christian Coalition and related groups in the movement, is that they organize across the electoral cycle. They seek out like-minded voters; train prospective activists and candidates; update their data bases; analyze electoral data; and figure out where they need to expand and gain strength. In other words — they plan for the next election, and the one after that. They do this in the context of, but independently of the Republican Party.

I have written about the development of the Christian Right for 20 years. I have also watched the activities of the Left, and interest groups affiliated with the Democratic Party. As a rule, they prepare less well for the next round of elections than the Christian Right. Progressives and Democrats do seem to spend an inordinate amount of time armchair-quarterbacking the Democratic National Committee, or opining about “the message.” Others seem to think that giving people information, or “the facts” will lead to winning elections. As important as information is, information alone has never won an election anywhere, to my knowledge.

Progressives and Democrats need to learn from the success of the Christian Right, and make some changes. This can be done in part, by individuals and small groups digging into their own communities — and figuring out how to be able to deliver more votes in more places next time. For example, people who live in Blue oases in Red states need to turn their oases into strongholds that turn out progressive voters in numbers disproportionate to the rest of their state. Obviously, this is especially true in swing states. In Blue states that could be bluer — or that want to correct the view of some elected Democrats that they need to become more Republican in order to win reelection — it is important to make sure that their constituency is big enough — and strong enough — to be able to ensure that elected officials are reliably Democratic in their views, their activities and their votes.

To make all this happen, there is no point in waiting for big changes to come out of interest groups based in New York and Washington. They are too heavily invested in the status quo. I hasten to add, that its obviously not that these groups want the Christian Right to win; its just that they are slow to change their thinking, and for changes in their thinking to trickle down to the parched grassroots.

What then to do? It is important for progressive Democrats to figure out how to do it for themselves — and to start doing it. One third of the U.S. Senate, and all of the U.S. House of Representatives are up for reelection in two years. The story is similar for every state legislature in the country.

The Democratic Party needs new leadership. This means you.