WASHINGTON (By Kenneth P. Vogel, Politico) November 23, 2010 — George Soros wants wealthy liberals to push Democrats on liberal legislative initiatives.

Meeting with major Democratic donors in Washington this week, George Soros urged them to pressure the Obama administration to focus on liberal policy priorities including climate change and immigration reform, which are considered non-starters with Republicans set to assume control of the House.

Soros, a billionaire who has been among the most generous donors to liberal causes over the years, has recently indicated he no longer intends to fund the kind of independent political advertising campaigns he backed in 2004 and that Republican allies used to bombard Democrats in the midterm elections.

During a private session Wednesday on the sidelines of a conference of major Democratic donors organized by the Democracy Alliance, Soros reiterated the position wealthy liberals should focus their giving on groups that will push President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats on liberal legislative initiatives, rather than groups supporting individual candidates, according to a source in the meeting.

“George was talking about how, in the context of the election, progressives are disappointed, and they should keep the administration focused on certain issues we should be promoting,” said the source, who did not want to be identified because Democracy Alliance bars attendees from discussing its conferences.

Soros, who is a member of the alliance, arrived at the conference Tuesday afternoon, attended a Wednesday lunch and a couple member meetings at the swank Washington hotel hosting the conference, and left town before the Wednesday night dinner marking the end of the three-day gathering.

Democracy Alliance, which was created after George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection, requires its members to pay annual dues starting at $15,000 to support member activities including its twice-a-year conferences, which feature a mix of policy briefings and socializing. Its staff vets and recommends non-profit groups to which its members can contribute.

Members are required to contribute a minimum of $100,000 to recommended groups, which have primarily focused on policy, issue advocacy and voter mobilization, and not campaign advertising.

The feeling at the member meetings was the alliance’s approach to giving had been successful in shaping the political debate and the GOP’s landslide midterm election victory resulted partly from a messaging failure, the source said.

“There was a lot of discussion about the election and about whether there was a failure in being able to deliver a strong message to voters,” the source said. “There were different views about how that might be improved and whether the Democracy Alliance can play a role in that, and there was a recognition the coming political environment is going to be very difficult for progressives once the Republican Congress takes over.”

In addition to Soros, donors who attended the conference included former Stride Rite chairman Arnold Hiatt, hedge fund financier Donald Sussman, electronics pioneer Bill Budinger, real estate developer Wayne Jordan and Suzanne Hess, the wife of real estate mogul Lawrence Hess.

The Huffington Post on Wednesday reported several sources quoted Soros as saying in Wednesday’s private session “if this president can't do what we need, it is time to start looking somewhere else.”

Soros was not suggesting progressives mount a 2012 primary challenge to President Barack Obama from the left, but rather “liberals need to be more forceful and should create pressure from the left to keep their issues on the legislative radar," said Michael Vachon, a Soros adviser.

Vachon declined to discuss Soros’s comments further, saying the session “was a private, informal conversation among the partners and there was no expectation that it was public.”