John Cullinane, a longtime, generous donor to Democratic candidates and causes, in Massachusetts and nationally, has a new cause of his own. In the aftermath of the Democrats' 2004 election loss, he is asking candidates and other seekers of political contributions to do what he would ask of any entrepreneur seeking start-up capital: come up with a succinct campaign message. If they can't do that much for him, he is done supporting them.

And he means it. Cullinane, a supporter of Howard Dean during the Democratic presidential primary season, received a recent e-mail from Dean's top aide, announcing that Dean was running for chair of the Democratic National Committee.

''I noted that he was using the same message as a rationale that he used to run for president,'' says Cullinane. ''I e-mailed Howard saying that I had a new policy as a smart donor, that I don't give to candidates for any new office who don't have a good positioning message.''

He says Dean answered with a short e-mail of his own: ''I agree. Thanks.''

Message politics is not new. The Republicans have fine-tuned it since Joe McGinniss documented the GOP commitment to it in ''The Selling of the President 1968,'' the story of how imagemakers sold Richard M. Nixon to the American public as if he were soap. Now the 2004 presidential election loss is bringing more Democrats to the altar of brand politics. John Kerry's loss to George W. Bush is yielding new soul-searching.

Cullinane comes at politics from the vantage point of private sector success. He was the founder of Cullinane Corporation, one of the first successful software companies. He attributes his software company's success to its ability to its ability to craft a message.

''For almost 15 years, we introduced a new product positioning message that put our competition on the defensive. When we stopped doing it, the competition caught up and outpositioned us and we paid the price,'' says Cullinane, who now runs The Cullinane Group, Inc. which helps companies develop positioning messages.

Cullinane has a financial interest in the political message business. A new consulting company, Meurer-Chen Consulting, is using a paradigm developed by Cullinane called, ''Comprehensive Message Process'' to assist political candidates. According to The Cullinane Group website, Meurer-Chen's first client is California Democratic state senator Richard Alarcon, a candidate for mayor of Los Angeles. Cullinane is also working on

a pro bono basis with some top Democrats to demonstrate the effectiveness of the process.

According to Cullinane, the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi of California, used his process recently to help create a new message for House Democrats: ''New Partnership for America's Future.'' It focuses on six values for Americans: national security, prosperity, fairness, opportunity, community, and accountability.

Looking back at 2004, Cullinane blames Dean's failed primary campaign and Kerry's general election loss on weak messages. He points to a passage in Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi's book, ''The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,'' which describes a scene where the candidate is surrounded be reporters who are asking questions he cannot answer.

''Dean had finally been put on the defensive by his competition, those mean Democrats. This was the surest sign he was being outpositioned,'' says Cullinane. ''He had nobody to blame but himself, because he had no new message to put his competition on the defensive.''

As for Kerry, Cullinane says, ''John Kerry never had a message even though he had three sets of advisers. It's the main reason why he lost an easily winnable campaign.''

Democrats were financially competitive during the 2004 campaign. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, George W. Bush took in a record $360 milion for the 2004 election and spent $306 million. Kerry raised more than $314 million and spent more than $241 million. (Those totals do not include money raised by so-called 527s, which are independent fund-raising committees. But the Democrats could not transform money into a winning message.

Imagine the political panic if Democratic donors rebel and demand a message better than ''Anybody but Bush'' from a candidate running for president. As Cullinane points out, ''No group of venture capitalists would ever invest $1 million in a new venture when the founder couldn't explain why they should. Yet, most political candidates run for office with no message, whatsoever, and expect loyal Democrats to support them and they usually do. However, it's a very frustrating experience.'' That message is loud and clear.

© 2005 Boston Globe