Social club offers liberal politics and pints

In a week that included President Bush’s State of the Union address and the confirmation of conservative Judge Samuel Alito as a Supreme Court justice, 40-year-old Andrew Ettelson, a former Democratic campaign operative for President Clinton, wanted to take the edge off with some like-minded liberals and a stiff drink.

So he headed to Rudy’s Bar and Grill, an unpretentious watering hole just west of Times Square that offers cheap beer, free hot dogs and, on Thursday nights, a dose of liberal politics in the form of a social club called Drinking Liberally.

“I go through periods of engagement, activism and disillusionment,” Ettelson said of his political involvement, as he stood amid a boisterous crowd. “But this is an opportunity for some much-needed community building.”

After the formation of the original New York chapter in 2003, Drinking Liberally expanded first to Houston and San Francisco, as members moved out of the city.

Then, in September 2004, the group really took off, when political blogs Atrios and Daily Kos posted meeting schedules following the November presidential election. A week after the posts appeared, Drinking Liberally had six new chapters, in Philadelphia, Washington, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Within the next six weeks, there were 18 more. And today, there are some 130 chapters in 40 states.

“Politics isn’t something that happens every two years--it’s something that can be tied into your life every day,” said Justin Krebs, a 27-year-old arts administrator at The Tank, a Manhattan performance space, who founded the New York chapter with Matthew O’Neill, 27, a producer at Downtown Community Television.

By bringing people with common political interests together in a social setting, Krebs said, the group gradually encourages long-term commitment to political involvement. “We want people to be able to find that next step, but we think that forming those social bonds is going to increase the level of engagement down the road.”

The Northeast chapters have the most active memberships, and average participants tend to be young professionals in their 20s and 30s. Most keep an eye attuned to politics, but say they’ve never been motivated to join a political group prior to Drinking Liberally.

Sarah Rutledge, 28, a real estate agent with a lifelong interest in Democratic politics but no active political experience, founded the Memphis, Tenn., chapter last June after reading about the group on the Atrios blog. Rutledge mentioned the group to her friends, who all agreed that their predominantly Republican city needed this kind of outlet.

Like many members, Rutledge found the group’s lack of a strict agenda refreshing. “What I really liked about DL was that it was a melding of the minds,” she said. But at the same time, “you didn’t feel like if you showed up, somebody was going to hand you a poster board and say, ‘OK, tomorrow night we’re going out to the street corner.’”

She maintains an e-mail list of 150 people and says attendance has increased so rapidly that she plans to switch her meetings to a larger bar.

“We try to keep it informal,” said John McClelland, 29, a transportation engineer and founder of the Addison, Texas, chapter. McClelland said he and other group members felt stifled in the heavily Republican atmosphere of North Dallas and turned to Drinking Liberally as an escape.

And while certain Drinking Liberally chapters have also become a stomping ground for aspiring political candidates, don’t expect to see any legislative hopefuls offering stump speeches. The organization forbids formal campaign activity but gives candidates other ways to participate. Last September, for example, the New York chapter was the host of what it called “Mayoroke,” an evening of mayoral candidates like Anthony Weiner and Gifford Miller performing karaoke songs in exchange for entrance to the meeting.

So while Drinking Liberally may not promote activism, it does encourage political awareness through its tongue-in-cheek social events. The Lafayette, Ind., chapter held a “Nominate Your Friend to the Supreme Court” party in honor of Bush’s nomination of his close associate Harriet Miers. And New York’s Drinking Liberally held a party with the New York Young Republican Club called “Sleeping with the Enemy: A Bipartisan Affair,” at which attendees drank from blue or red cups to identify their party affiliation.

And a recent nationwide event offered Drinking Liberally chapters the perfect occasion to do what they do best. As Bush delivered his State of the Union address, members across the country played a corresponding drinking game.

“Every time he told a lie, you had to tilt one,” said C. Robert Holloway, a 69-year-old film production designer who joined the Memphis chapter after being displaced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.

“Within 10 minutes,” Holloway said, “everyone was pretty well drunk.”

E-mail: eo88@columbia.edu