FaninAma
11/20/2012, 03:25 PM
Yep, they are truly champions of civil liberty.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/democrats-push-to-redeploy-obamas-voter-database/2012/11/20/d14793a4-2e83-11e2-89d4-040c9330702a_story.html
Democrats are now pressing to expand and redeploy the most sophisticated voter list (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/obama-romney-have-ways-to-make-you-vote/2012/10/15/c57931c2-16f5-11e2-a55c-39408fbe6a4b_story.html) in American political history, beginning with next year’s gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey and extending to campaigns for years to come. The prospect already has some Republicans worried.
“It’s always hard to play catch-up,” said Peter Pasi, a Republican direct marketer who worked on Rick Santorum’s primary challenge to Romney. “It can be done by 2016. I’m much more doubtful it can happen by 2014.”
The database consists of voting records and political donation histories bolstered by vast amounts of personal but publicly available consumer data, say campaign officials and others familiar with the operation, which was capable of recording hundreds of fields for each voter.
Campaign workers added far more detail through a broad range of voter contacts — in person, on the phone, over e-mail or through visits to the campaign’s Web site. Those who used its Facebook app, for example, had their files updated with lists of their Facebook friends along with scores measuring the intensity of those relationships and whether they lived in swing states. If their last names seemed Hispanic, a key target group for the campaign, the database recorded that, too.
The result was a digital operation far more elaborate than the one mounted by Obama’s Republican rival, Mitt Romney, who collected less data and deployed it less effectively, say officials from both parties.
To maintain their advantage, Democrats say they must guard against the propensity of political data to deteriorate in off years, when funding and attention dwindles, while navigating the inevitable intra-party squabbles over who gets access now that the unifying forces of a billion-dollar presidential campaign are gone.
“If this is all we do with this technology, I think it will be a wasted opportunity,” said Michael Slaby, the campaign’s chief integration and innovation officer.
Tests of whether Obama’s database can be successfully redeployed will come even sooner. Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/11/08/terry-mcauliffe-says-hes-running-for-governor/), a party insider who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2009, already has inquired about the data for his gubernatorial campaign next year, say those familiar with the conversations.
“We have been communicating to Obama For America all along about the importance of receiving that data, since Virginia has a 2013 election,” said Brian Moran, the outgoing chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party.
Though McAuliffe is an early frontrunner, many in the party say individual candidates should get access to such data only after winning the nomination — something that in Virginia can’t happen before the June primary, leaving only a few months before the November general election. The short time frame may make a full data set, should McAuliffe get it, even more valuable. [/quote]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/democrats-push-to-redeploy-obamas-voter-database/2012/11/20/d14793a4-2e83-11e2-89d4-040c9330702a_story.html
Democrats are now pressing to expand and redeploy the most sophisticated voter list (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/obama-romney-have-ways-to-make-you-vote/2012/10/15/c57931c2-16f5-11e2-a55c-39408fbe6a4b_story.html) in American political history, beginning with next year’s gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey and extending to campaigns for years to come. The prospect already has some Republicans worried.
“It’s always hard to play catch-up,” said Peter Pasi, a Republican direct marketer who worked on Rick Santorum’s primary challenge to Romney. “It can be done by 2016. I’m much more doubtful it can happen by 2014.”
The database consists of voting records and political donation histories bolstered by vast amounts of personal but publicly available consumer data, say campaign officials and others familiar with the operation, which was capable of recording hundreds of fields for each voter.
Campaign workers added far more detail through a broad range of voter contacts — in person, on the phone, over e-mail or through visits to the campaign’s Web site. Those who used its Facebook app, for example, had their files updated with lists of their Facebook friends along with scores measuring the intensity of those relationships and whether they lived in swing states. If their last names seemed Hispanic, a key target group for the campaign, the database recorded that, too.
The result was a digital operation far more elaborate than the one mounted by Obama’s Republican rival, Mitt Romney, who collected less data and deployed it less effectively, say officials from both parties.
To maintain their advantage, Democrats say they must guard against the propensity of political data to deteriorate in off years, when funding and attention dwindles, while navigating the inevitable intra-party squabbles over who gets access now that the unifying forces of a billion-dollar presidential campaign are gone.
“If this is all we do with this technology, I think it will be a wasted opportunity,” said Michael Slaby, the campaign’s chief integration and innovation officer.
Tests of whether Obama’s database can be successfully redeployed will come even sooner. Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/11/08/terry-mcauliffe-says-hes-running-for-governor/), a party insider who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2009, already has inquired about the data for his gubernatorial campaign next year, say those familiar with the conversations.
“We have been communicating to Obama For America all along about the importance of receiving that data, since Virginia has a 2013 election,” said Brian Moran, the outgoing chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party.
Though McAuliffe is an early frontrunner, many in the party say individual candidates should get access to such data only after winning the nomination — something that in Virginia can’t happen before the June primary, leaving only a few months before the November general election. The short time frame may make a full data set, should McAuliffe get it, even more valuable. [/quote]