To maximize the groups' clout, Mr. Roe encouraged them to share their work, and a culture of mutual aid has taken hold.
To secure prime space in shopping malls, it helps to belong to a holding-company convoy led by a large brand.Perhaps equally important is the big groups' clout with publishers of glossy magazines and "key opinion leaders" whose fashion-packed blogs, videos and Instagram streams reach millions of followers.
Much as South Koreans are proud of having Samsung Electronics, part of the biggest chaebol, advertise on Manhattan's Times Square and act as sponsors of Chelsea Football Club and the Olympics, they worry about the groups' clout at home.Recent data show chaebol engaged in more than two-thirds of 76 business categories in South Korea.
Interest-group clout would help stymie Clinton's proposal, especially once public opinion began to shift away from him.
Peña Nieto still keeps an expansive family hacienda in nearby Acambay, but the group's clout has diminished in recent years due to a paucity of strong leadership and the ascent of other regional power bases within the state.
Many mainstream Republicans are furious with the group's clout and have pledged to fight back.
They set out to persuade the Chamber, the NFIB and other groups with clout in Washington, including the National Association of Manufacturers, to join them in creating a new front group that would be operated out of a big PR firm in Washington, Porter Novelli.
These "alphas" of the group have more clout and prestige than other members.
After all, the Democrats were the Senate's minority party, so the new group had little clout.
The group used its clout recently to kill an immigration crackdown law in the State Legislature, even though it was supported by Gov. Rick Perry, a possible Republican presidential contender.
