MoveOn.org has grown from its start as an anti-impeachment crusade to become the left’s leading online weapon.

>>FORUM

The first time I met Eli Pariser, I had to stand in line to get to him. It was at a June book-signing for progressive author David Sirota. Pariser had joined Sirota during a question-and-answer period about corporate power. The lanky 25-year-old wunderkind who runs MoveOn.org—arguably the most influential progressive political-action group in the country—didn’t get very far after the event ended and the crowd rushed him.

I found him backed into a corner, his arms crossed over his chest, straining to listen to a septuagenarian from the audience who rambled over the din of the crowd about youth and why they aren’t involved and whether we can get them involved.

“So what do you think?” the man said.

“I don’t know,” Pariser replied. He smiled awkwardly.

“Well, that’s what you guys do, isn’t it? Move on?”