The battle for the future of Social Security is perhaps the most important political moment in a generation. With business interests pledging to dump tens of millions of unrestricted dollars into the campaign to privatize the program, it's about time progressive groups got active. The New York Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Richard W. Stevenson has the story:

The public relations war over President Bush's Social Security plan escalated on Wednesday, as a liberal advocacy group attacked the Republican chairman of the House Social Security subcommittee, and conservative groups fought among themselves over strategy.

The advocacy group, Campaign for America's Future, accused the subcommittee chairman, Representative Jim McCrery of Louisiana, of conflict of interest, saying he had accepted nearly $200,000 in contributions over four years from securities firms and commercial banks that could benefit from Mr. Bush's plan to let workers invest in retirement accounts.

On Thursday, the group will begin running newspaper advertisements against Mr. McCrery under the headline "Who Does This Man Work For?" in his hometown, Shreveport. In addition, it is using the Internet to raise money for television advertisements.

Unless the left understands that this is not just a battle for the future of America but also the future of progressivism itself, it's going to be a tough fight. This is a good start, though.