WP: Democrats Aim to Regain Edge In Getting Voters to the Polls

[DeepModem Mom]

Democrats Aim to Regain Edge In Getting Voters to the Polls
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 8, 2006; Page A06

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- It may seem like a distant memory now, but Democrats not so long ago dominated the battle between the parties to get their voters to the polls.

Over the past half-dozen years, Republicans reinvented the system, using sophisticated computer modeling and vast amounts of consumer data. In 2002 and 2004, they demonstrated their newfound superiority -- to the dismay of Democratic Party officials and their allies.

"It's no secret that the other side figured this out a little sooner," said Josh Syrjamaki, the state director of America Votes, an umbrella organization of labor and liberal interest groups. "They've had four to six years' jump on us on this stuff . . . but we feel like we can start to catch up. I guess we'll find out in about a month and a half how much we've caught up."...

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Campaigns and candidates once used blunt instruments to mobilize voters, targeting geographic areas where there were concentrations of Democratic or Republican voters. Those techniques remain an essential part of the turnout wars that can decide a close election, which is why campaigns, political parties and their ideological allies will put legions of volunteers on the streets in the final days before Nov. 7.

Increasingly, however, campaigns have begun identifying potential voters literally one by one, even if they live in areas dominated by the opposition party. Using surveys and modeling and consumer and political data, the parties convert the electorate into subgroups that turnout specialists call by names like "Flag and Family Republicans," "Education-Focused Democrats" and "Older Suburban Newshounds."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/07/AR2006100700388.html