"conservative's answer to MoveOn.org" closes

Say goodbye to "Freedom's Watch"

Good night and good luck, Ari Fleischer.

Freedom’s Watch, the 501 (c4) organization heavily funded by Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson and hyped as the conservative answer to MoveOn.org, is shutting its doors. Ed Patru, Vice President of Communications for Freedom’s Watch, said in an interview that the organization would be effectively ceasing its operations at the end of the year.

Freedom’s Watch launched in the summer of 2007 with a splash, launching a $15 million nationwide ad campaign supporting President Bush’s troop escalation in Iraq and announcing a staff roster that read like a who’s who of the Washington Republican establishment, including former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer and Bradley Blakeman, a former deputy assistant to President Bush. Rumors circulated that the organization would spend as much as $200 million in the course of the 2008 election cycle.

(Crooks and Liars)