LOTS OF MONEY, NO SENSE

The extremely well funded America Coming Together was meant to change politics in a big way. It didn't quite work out as planned:

Soros and his close associate -- Progressive Corp. Chairman Peter Lewis -- together put $38.5 million into ACT and the Media Fund. With this seed money, the two organizations collected $196.4 million, enough to set up voter mobilization programs in every presidential battleground state and to flood the airwaves with pro-Democratic commercials in the early spring of 2004 when Kerry's campaign was broke.

By all measures but one, ACT and the Media Fund were a great success, helping to turn out record numbers of new voters. But that one measure was the one that counted. After Bush's reelection and GOP gains in the House and Senate, Soros and Lewis pulled the plug on their support.

Soros "was disappointed by the outcome of the election," said his spokesman, Michael Vachon. "At the same time, he is very pleased with the work that ACT did."

Asked whether Soros will once again open his checkbook for ACT, Vachon said Soros's plans "are evolving and not yet nailed down."

But ACT officials are not optimistic.

All the whining and complaining aside, I thought liberals were eternal optimists.