"In a private club 54 floors above the convention hall they monitored the party they infiltrated."

[madfloridian]

76. The influence on Clinton and the formation of the New Democrats Network (NDN)

https://archive.today/gdEuS#selection-417.0-435.355

DLC operatives assumed key roles in Clinton's campaign. And they simply gritted their teeth when the 1992 Democratic nominee jettisoned the DLC line for the more populist "putting people first" rhetoric that would ultimately carry him to the White House with crucial support drawn from labor, minority, and feminist constituencies.

Clinton's 1992 scramble away from DLC language came as no surprise. He can read a public opinion survey as well as the next politician. As Democratic pollster and Clinton confidant Stanley Greenberg noted several years ago, the President's approval numbers did not begin to rise "until he rejected the advice of conservatives of the party" and began to adopt populist and distinctly non-DLC rhetoric on issues ranging from tax policy to protecting Social Security.

Clinton learned early on the dangers of following the DLC line too closely. After the 1992 election, giddy New Democrats inside and outside the Administration did much to define the first two years of the Clinton Presidency. The result was the worst Democratic electoral setback of the century--a sweeping rejection of the party caused, in no small measure, by the failure of millions of working class voters to go to the polls. They were angered by Clinton's over-the-top backing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a DLC signature issue.

After the 1994 election, DLC cadres set about shaping political structures that would give it greater influence within the Congressional Democratic caucus. They formed the New Democrat Network, a well-funded group dedicated to electing and reelecting corporation-friendly Democrats. It expanded the House membership after both the 1996 and 1998 elections.