Abortion rights advocates struggling

It's no surprise that activism thrives under opposition.

Politico argues today that anti-abortion groups have done a better job of organizing under the Obama administration than the abortion-rights camp.

The piece notes that liberal groups like NARAL found it easier to raise money when President Bush was under power. Now that their Democratic allies are in office, the group has actually seen a dip in support:

"To be completely honest, it's really hard," said NARAL's political director, Elizabeth Shipp. "We have a triple whammy with Obama in office, a Democratic majority in Congress and, on top of that, there's the recession. It's really hard in this environment to get people ginned up about the importance of elections."

As a general rule, advocacy groups tend to thrive under opposition — fear is a better motivating force than hope at the end of the day.

But it's also worth pointing out that the goals of parties and politicians do not always match up to the goals of advocacy groups, though people often forget that in the heat of an election.

-- Ambreen Ali, Congress.org

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