"When Talk Radio Talks, Congress Listens"

Christina Bellantoni (Roll Call):

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow told Roll Call she believes the right “has long had a wider-reaching, more fully-formed messaging apparatus than the left.”

“It may be that there’s more rightwing media echo in their politics simply because the right’s echo-chamber works better,” Maddow said in an e-mail. “Comparatively speaking, messaging on the left is much more ad hoc, much less disciplined and repetitive, and much less wide-reaching.”

Rosenberg and other Democrats agreed there’s a less cohesive message on the left. Several said efforts by MoveOn to influence Democratic leadership end up providing fodder for conservatives in that ecosystem, proving the right’s echo chamber is more effective.

“It always seems that if you turn on Hannity or Beck or Limbaugh, you seem to be hearing the same things come from Representatives’ and Senators’ mouths in the next 24 hours,” said Stefan Hankin, a Democratic strategist. “The voices on the left just don’t have the same drumbeat.” MORE...