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Main article: History of MoveOn.org

MoveOn started in 1998 as an e-mail group, MoveOn.org, created by software entrepreneurs Joan Blades and Wes Boyd, the married cofounders of Berkeley Systems.[6][7] They started by passing around a petition asking Congress to "Censure President Clinton and Move On to Pressing Issues Facing the Nation", as opposed to impeaching him.[6] The petition, passed around by word of mouth, gathered half a million signatures but did not dissuade the House of Representatives from impeaching the President.[7] The couple went on to start similar campaigns calling for arms inspections rather than an invasion of Iraq, and campaign finance reform.

Since 1998, MoveOn has raised millions of dollars for many Democratic candidates.[8] In November 2007, a drive spearheaded by MoveOn caused Facebook to change its controversial new "Beacon" program, which notified Facebook users about purchases by people on their friends list.[9]

Since the 2000 election cycle, the MoveOn PAC has endorsed and supported the campaigns of candidates, including the 2008 presidential candidacy of Democrat Barack Obama.[10]

In 2007, MoveOn was a co-founder of Avaaz, an American non-profit activism group with an international focus.[11]

In 2016, MoveOn endorsed U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States after holding online elections in which 340,665 members reportedly cast their ballot. 78.6 percent of these supported the junior Senator from Vermont, while 14.6 percent and 0.9 percent supported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, respectively.[12][13]

Moveon.org has been part of the anti-Trump movement. It has taken credit for helping to promote the 2016 Donald Trump Chicago rally protest, and for paying for printing protest signs and a banner.[14][15] MoveOn helped organize the 2019 Presidents Day protest.

MoveOn started in 1998 as an e-mail group, MoveOn.org, created by software entrepreneurs Joan Blades and Wes Boyd, the married cofounders of Berkeley Systems.[6][7] They started by passing around a petition asking Congress to "Censure President Clinton and Move On to Pressing Issues Facing the Nation", as opposed to impeaching him.[6] The petition, passed around by word of mouth, gathered half a million signatures but did not dissuade the House of Representatives from impeaching the President.[7] The couple went on to start similar campaigns calling for arms inspections rather than an invasion of Iraq, and campaign finance reform.

Since 1998, MoveOn has raised millions of dollars for many Democratic candidates.[8]

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, MoveOn launched an online campaign calling for "justice, not escalating violence." It collected 30,000 signers for a statement that argued: "To combat terrorism, we must act in accordance with a high standard that does not disregard the lives of people in other countries. If we retaliate by bombing Kabul and kill people oppressed by the Taliban dictatorship who have no part in deciding whether terrorists are harbored, we become like the terrorists we oppose. We perpetuate the cycle of retribution and recruit more terrorists by creating martyrs." Eventually, this led to them working on behalf of Eli Pariser's similar 9-11peace.org petition.^[1] Pariser later joined MoveOn as its executive director.

During the buildup to the invasion of Iraq, MoveOn circulated an anti-war petition calling for "No War on Iraq." In July 2002, it came under criticism after MoveOn's Eli Pariser urged its members to oppose the war by sending letters to the editor of their local newspapers, offering sample form letters [1] [2] [3]

In August, MoveOn launched an online petition against the war, collecting 220,000 signatures in two months. As it had done with the petition against Clinton's impeachment, it organized volunteers who hand-delivered the signatures to senators and representatives before the congressional vote on the war powers resolution. In October, a MoveOn fundraising appeal raised $1 million in two days' time for what it called four "heroes of the anti-war effort" in Congress who opposed the Iraq resolution: Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, Reps. Rick Larsen and Jay Inslee of Washington, and Rep. Rush D. Holt, Jr. of New Jersey. MoveOn also worked to raise money for Democratic candidates who actually supported the Iraq resolution, some of whom were locked in tight races in moderate or conservative states, including Missouri Sen. Jean Carnahan, and Senate candidates Ron Kirk in Texas, Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, Tim Johnson in South Dakota and Mark Pryor in Arkansas. All told, it raised $3.5 million for the 2002 election cycle.

In September, it issued a bulletin by Susan Thompson, "Selling the War on Iraq," offering "lessons in PR from previous wars" and warning that "the costs of regime change" would "cost a whopping $200 billion". MoveOn predicted that "regular people will probably have to foot the bill" while anyone with ties to the oil companies will probably profit immensely."

MoveOn also joined with 14 other organization to form the Win Without War coalition, which also included the National Council of Churches, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the National Organization for Women. Win Without War in turn helped organize Artists United to Win Without War, a group of more than 100 anti-war actors, producers and directors from Hollywood. In December 2002, MoveOn launched another petition, titled "Let the Inspections Work," with the goal of raising $40,000 to pay for a full-page anti-war appeal in the New York Times. Instead, its members sent in nearly $400,000. With the additional funds, it sponsored anti-war radio spots and TV ads in 13 major cities. Modeled after the famous "Daisy" ad from Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign against Barry Goldwater, the TV ads warned that war with Iraq could spark nuclear armageddon. According to an account in the Los Angeles Times, "To generate buzz - essentially free advertising - for its own antiwar television spot, MoveOn.org hired Fenton Communications, the same company that promoted Arianna Huffington's recent anti-SUV ads. ... A week after its TV ad first appeared on the news, MoveOn.org reported that its membership had grown by 100,000. The ad was covered on virtually every major network. It was shown and discussed on news programs in Australia, Pakistan, Russia and Japan. The tally is ongoing, but the ad generated at least 110 television news stories and dozens in print, according to an Interim Media Coverage Report by Fenton Communications." [4] It also attempted to place anti-war advertisements on the sides of buildings, billboards and buses but was thwarted when Viacom, which owns the largest outdoor-advertising entity in North America, refused to run the ads.

By early 2003, MoveOn boasted more than 750,000 members in the United States and hundreds of thousands more overseas. As war in Iraq neared, its member base grew and the pace of its activities accelerated. Whereas the Nexis/Lexis news database recorded 155 mentions of MoveOn in 2002, in 2003 there were 2,226 mentions. In January 2003, more than 9,000 of its members, organized into small delegations, visited more than 400 home offices of U.S. senators and representatives across the nation to present the petitions in person. In February 2003, MoveOn teamed up with Win Without War to sponsor a "virtual march on Washington" that generated more than 1 million phone calls and faxes to politicians opposing the invasion. [5]

In June, two months after the Pentagon declared an end to "major combat operations in Iraq," MoveOn teamed up again with Win Without War to purchase a full-page ad in the New York Times that labeled Bush a misleader and demanded an independent commission to determine the truth about US intelligence on Iraq, declaring, "It would be a tragedy if young men and women were sent to die for a lie." [6]

In June, MoveOn held what it called "the first online primary of the modern age," and Howard Dean won a plurality of 44 percent of the vote, with 139,360 votes. [7] The methodology of the primary, however, attracted criticism from a staff member of the Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt campaign, who complained of "vote-rigging" because only three of the Democratic primary candidates—Dean, John Kerry, and Dennis Kucinich—had been invited to send detailed messages to MoveOn members in advance of the online voting. [8] MoveOn explained that Dean, Kerry and Kucinich "were chosen by MoveOn members" and that their candidate emails included "links to the sites of ALL the other 6 candidates. Others were made aware of the process and chose to participate. The process was not changed. 96% of MoveOn respondents voted to endorse the selection process." [9]^{[permanent dead link]}

With more than 300,000 votes cast, it topped the combined turnouts in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in 2000.

After coming into being with an internet petition against President Bill Clinton's impeachment, MoveOn became an electronic precinct machine, steadily attracting more than one million enrolled members with criticisms of the George W. Bush administration and quietly raising more than $7 million for Democratic candidates. If a contender can draw at least 50 percent in the field, the result will mean a formal endorsement with money and volunteers to follow.

In April, MoveOn organized a “Take Back the White House" campaign, which included 1,100 bake sales across the U.S., rallied 500,000 volunteers, and raised $750,000 for ads targeting Bush’s military record. [10]

In June, MoveOn organized a response to criticism of Michael Moore's controversial film, Fahrenheit 9/11, calling on its members to send supportive emails to movie theatres. More than 110,000 MoveOn members pledged to go see the film once it opened. [11]

MoveOn also organized nearly 3,000 "Turn Up the Heat" house parties on the Monday following its first weekend in theaters. Attendees listened via Internet hookup and participated via town hall application in talk by Moore and MoveOn organizers, and then signed up to participate in voter-registration drives and other activities aimed at unseating Bush and other Republicans in the November 2004 U.S. elections. [12]

MoveOn was active in electoral politics in an effort to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives by liberal thinkers. MoveOn volunteers made over 7 million phone calls; MoveOn raised and spent over $27 from small donors; they produced negative ads for candidates who supported the Iraq War; and they added 450,000 members. They called out Republican ethical violations and their efforts to let Social Security funding shrink.

The "Positive Agenda" that they developed was for (1) universal healthcare, (2) energy independence by renewable sources, and (3) "restoring democracy" from Republican policies. They promoted many local coffees and rallies.

"[I]n 2005 and 2006, we laid the foundation on which we can finally begin to build a more progressive America," wrote Eli Pariser, President of the Board at MoveOn.org.

["MoveOn Year-End Report 2006," a PDF file on Google Drive, MoveOn.org Political Action]

In November 2007, a drive spearheaded by MoveOn caused Facebook to change its controversial new "Beacon" program, which notified Facebook users about purchases by people on their friends list.[9]

On February 1, 2008, MoveOn announced first ever presidential endorsement that was for Sen. Barack Obama, rather than Sen. Hillary Clinton, the former First Lady[4]

Senator Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley participated in a MoveOn online forum. MoveOn endorsed Bernie Sanders for President by 78% (340,665) of the memberships' vote. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received 15% and O'Malley received 1%.

In 2016, MoveOn endorsed Bernie Sanders for President of the United States after holding online elections in which 340,665 members reportedly cast their ballot. 78.6% of these supported the Junior Senator from Vermont, while 14.6% and 0.9% threw themselves behind Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, respectively.^[2][3]

Following the April 2019 release of the Mueller report, the MoveOn website launched an initiative to support the Democrat-led effort to impeach Trump, saying "censure does not go far enough. It doesn’t have any teeth to it."^[4][5]