SIVACRACY.NET: Where Do We Go From Here?

A friend in Columbus asks:

Here at Ground Zero in Ohio, we developed a pretty big network for the election. The number of volunteers in my county was amazing. I had one of the leadership roles in the county Get Out The Vote Effort, and I would estimate that I had four times as many volunteers I needed. Now, of course, everyone is despondent, but in most cases, despondency is giving way to anger (I think sadness is no match for the fears of so many people that they will soon be living in Jesusland. Ashland U., here in Ohio, announced today that they will only hire Christians for all jobs). But now, the question has become what to do. The leadership had a meeting a few nights ago, where we were clearly split. Half the group thinks that this huge, out of nowhere collection of volunteers should be directed to joining the Democratic Club, a moribund arm of the county Democratic Party that sponsors, at least in theory, parties, raffles, charity works, etc. I oppose the idea, for various reasons that are not relevant, I suppose. But the big question to me then was, if we don't merge with the club, what do we do? We need to act fast, before the group falls apart. But where are the progressive organizations emerging from this election to coordinate a grass-roots movement? ACT is disbanding. MoveOn shows no interest. Democracy for America might work, but it is closely affiliated with Howard Dean, which might rub people the wrong way. So, we have a huge list of names and addresses of people who gave time and money to help defeat Bush, but no real organization for them. We could start our own group, some kind of county progressive group, I suppose, but there has got to be a better way.

So where are they? Where are the liberal leaders trying to coordinate this outpouring of mass support into a unified movement? Where is our answer to the Christian Coalition? Where do we go from here? Our group is meeting in a month to vote, and I am supposed to speak on behalf of not joining the Dems. But what alternative can I give them?