Read today’s Washington Post recommending Michael Pertschuk’s new book:
THE DeMARCO FACTOR: TRANSFORMING PUBLIC WILL INTO POLITICAL POWER
A coalition builder's lesson for progressives
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Mike has been a friend since I worked with him on REVOLT AGAINST REGULATION, which he wrote while standing firm as Liberal on Regan’s FTC.
He has been a life-long anti-smoking advocate, someone dedicated more to improving public health and saving lives rather than scoring ideological points, but he has no illusions about the obstacles to common sense changes that progressives continue to face.
You cannot learn from a better consumer advocate who walks the walk as well as talking the talk, and one of his heroes is Maryland
Consider DeMarco's successful fight against the tobacco industry. After building strong health and faith coalitions in many states for the national Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, he and his colleagues mobilized the national Faith United Against Tobacco coalition to press for federal legislation to give the FDA expansive powers to regulate tobacco products and their marketing -- legislation that had languished for more than a decade.
The coalition spanned the religious and political spectrum, from the liberal United Methodists to the conservative Southern Baptists. And despite heavy opposition from all but one tobacco company (New York
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