The Democratic party is lacking in an organization that can act as an effective counterweight to the Democratic Leadership Council. I think that the Dean campaign is a pretty good prototype in combination with organizations such as MoveOn.org for a centralized progressive core within the Democratic party.
Here is a snippet from NBC News' "First Read" newsletter, where I first saw the idea mentioned publicly....
"The Boston Globe reports, "Dean's top aides continued to investigate the possibility of forming a group that would advance the central themes of his campaign and also perhaps provide a counterweight to such groups as the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist organization whose leadership clashed with him during the campaign. Such an operation could be funded with Internet appeals such as those Dean used to raise a record $41 million last year."