Whatever else you may think of this effort, I find it fascinating.
Those campaign block-walkers have eagle eyes and sharp ears. Got an Aggie flag in your yard or a Jesus fish stuck on your car? Duly noted. Mention that your son is in the Navy? Got it.
Such are the snippets of data that Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, has gleaned as his campaign has labored for months to target existing and potential supporters. They’re working house by house across the 22nd Congressional District in advance of Tuesday’s four-way GOP primary.
The nuts-and-bolts information gathered during those house calls — whether constituents back DeLay, if they want a yard sign or bumper sticker, and if they’d like to get more information from the campaign — is gold to the DeLay team.
For DeLay, a 22-year incumbent who is fighting for another term, the intelligence is critical to his goal of wringing as large a margin as he can out of a primary contest that may wind up being closer than he would prefer.
The responses are entered into a growing database of GOP voters that the campaign uses to tailor its mailings, phone calls and other outreach, and to profile tens of thousands of voters across the district’s four counties.
[…]
The technology is now trickling down to statewide races, such as for governor or U.S. Senate. DeLay is likely one of the few House contenders operating at this fine-tuned level, said Michael McDonald, an assistant professor of government at George Mason University.
Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson said “it takes a lot of money, so it’s only going to be in signature races where you have millions of dollars to get on television and do all the detail stuff from yard signs to mailers that go to targeted places in your district.”
[…]
The DeLay team has sent out eight pieces of direct mail that have generated hundreds of mailed-back forms filled with information for the database.
The campaign also develops lists of supporters by using results of prior elections to find precincts with high concentrations of Republican voters.
Campaign workers and volunteers have walked the blocks in those neighborhoods and knocked on doors to identify DeLay supporters, [campaign manager Chris] Homan said.
“We can slice and dice names on a block-by-block basis to see how many people will volunteer,” he said, noting that about 1,500 people are now signed up.
Some of this sounds not all that different from old-fashioned methods. Having the right tools – software and enough people power, in particular – makes the difference. There were no revelations to DeLayVsWorld.
One thing to note: the tone in this article that the primary is not a slamdunk for DeLay. I’ll say it again: At what level of support do you have to say that DeLay isn’t even that popular among his own supposed base? Maybe we’ll find out soon.
What the DeLay campaign is doing isn’t rocket science — find those who are likely to form your base and work them.
What’s telling, though, is how hard he has to work them to try for re-election. I think he knows he’s damaged goods and has to find everyone he can to call and send mailings to, telling them about the “evil liberal Godless Democrats” and so on…
I love your phrase “political forensics”, and that is exactly what it is. Now, if the Dems in Texas elect Glen Maxey as chair, we will get tools to do the same thing, and the technology to store and retrieve as well as quickly update, that kind of investigative info. And it will be used for good, to govern, as well as to win. I hope…
There’s certainly nothing illegal or unconstitutional about what DeLay’s block-walkers are doing. But it is rather unnerving that our yard sign and bumper sticker choices are going into the permanent records of a powerful politician.
But then, barely-legal unsavoriness has been DeLay’s M.O. since the day he first ran for office. Can’t say I’m surprised.
The downside to this strategy, of course, is that if you’re always flying close to the edge, you’ll likely get caught crossing the line sooner or later.
Bill White used similar techniques when campaigning for mayor. I don’t know about yard signs and bumper stickers, but this isn’t new to this region or those parts of CD22 in the city.
Data for a data base so powerful it can only be used for….
Lots of data bases now….
Nearly 200 federal data-mining efforts, says GAO
to quote CSM:
http://www.csmonitor.com/…
from the February 09, 2006 edition –
Data-mining – the systematic, often automated gleaning of insights from databases – is seen “increasingly as a useful tool” to help detect terrorist threats, the General Accountability Office reported in 2004. Of the nearly 200 federal data-mining efforts the GAO counted, at least 14 were acknowledged to focus on counterterrorism.
While privacy laws do place some restriction on government use of private data – such as medical records – they don’t prevent intelligence agencies from buying information from commercial data collectors. Congress has done little so far to regulate the practice or even require basic notification from agencies, privacy experts say.
…………….
and another reason why you want good leaders instead of…
Tom DeLay is mentioned in the next story. If he was a part of trying to trick both Democratic and Republican Seniors, no amount of block walking and data mining will help him with Seniors.
from:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/4/13546/52658
Raw Story Told to ‘Cease and Desist’ by Abramoff Group
by Shaking the Tree
Sat Mar 04, 2006 at 12:05:46 PM CST
…I hope you all read this Raw Story Article
…
The National Center for Public Policy Research, the conservative nonprofit where fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff served as a director, has instructed RAW STORY to remove a fundraising letter the group sent in 2004. (copyrights for mailers)
Apparrently, this NCPPR is part of the Tom Delay/Jack Abramoff scam-machine.
RAW STORY published the letter in January of 2005. The story it accompanied detailed the effort by the conservative nonprofit to raise money from senior citizens by disguising a solicitation for a political donation under the guise of a “Task Force†to save Social Security.
Sent amidst a climate of growing concern about the Social Security program, the group’s letters targeted seniors of both parties, aiming to convince them their Social Security benefits were in jeopardy in hopes of inducing them to donate money. The mailings also encouraged seniors to keep the missive secret from others, perhaps even from family members.
“Inside your sealed envelope is information regarding the potential collapse of the Social Security system — and how it can endanger you and the entire United States senior citizen population,” NCPPR president Amy Ridenour writes on behalf of the National Social Security Task Force
Can anyone say, “Mail Fraud”?
The task force appears little more than a paper dragon. When asked about why it wasn’t mentioned on the center’s website, NCPPR executive director David Almasi told RAW STORY in 2005, “We [don’t] currently have Internet access in our office.â€
(more)
forgot to add link to RAW STORY:
http://rawstory.com/news/2006/After_critical_article_conservative_nonprofit_accuses_0303.html
Sent amidst a climate of growing concern about the Social Security program, the group’s letters targeted seniors of both parties, aiming to convince them their Social Security benefits were in jeopardy in hopes of inducing them to donate money. The mailings also encouraged seniors to keep the missive secret from others, perhaps even from family members.
“Inside your sealed envelope is information regarding the potential collapse of the Social Security system — and how it can endanger you and the entire United States senior citizen population,” NCPPR president Amy Ridenour writes on behalf of the National Social Security Task Force.
“It is also critical that you share this pertinent information ONLY [sic] with other trustworthy individuals.”
Trustworthy individuals —
Dear Ronnie Earle,
See Above.
Thanks,
Many Green, Yellow, Blue and now Purple Dogs