Some more on the future of liberal groups

Salon.com News The revolution that failed -- for now

Lot has been sad and written about what went wrong or why didn't the great voter mobilization resulted in success. Groups like ACT and MoveOn have been quickly dismissed by some, but still congratulated by others. It all depended on the angle from which one reviews the election results and the final statistics. It is also important whether one searches for deeper analysis or simply engages in finger-pointing. Writers like Dan Savage offered condolences and suggested that now Liberals Are the New Gays. The blogosphere is by now full of discussions and responses to Peter Beinart's infamous piece in TNR, where he isn’t too kind to liberal advocacy groups and blogger warriors.
Continuing this debate or rather expanding the analysis Farhad Manjoo of Salon.com offers extensive look at successes and failures of 527's and other "People Power" groups.
He argues that:

There's much to criticize about ACT, MoveOn, and the constellation of liberal groups that attracted so much attention and so many volunteers, and raised so much money and so many hopes, in the months before the election. They certainly weren't the silver bullet. But many critics are too quick to dismiss the very real successes of the advocacy groups, the political, financial, logistical and emotional achievements that were required to bring hundreds of thousands of volunteers and paid staffers into battleground states, and to use these people in a way that boosted turnout.

And as a result we could see amazing changes in the political landscape. Manjoo continues:

Yes, John Kerry lost. But an amazing thing happened this year -- grass-roots activism, online and in the real world, invaded the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. Ordinary people, folks who'd never before expressed the slightest interest in politics, suddenly developed an abiding enthusiasm for the game. And personal contact, the online connections and the doorstep conversations of millions of citizens, became a primary method of campaigning.