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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Long Read: “GOP digital revamp sees mixed results two years after report”

Long Read: “GOP digital revamp sees mixed results two years after report”

by Anne Laurie|  October 28, 20146:03 pm| 64 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Election 2014, Kochsuckers, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?

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Speaking of Adam Smith’s “conspiracy against the public… “* Jon Ward, at Yahoo News, “RNC’s deal with Koch political operation raises questions about illegal coordination“:

The most important thing that Republicans did over the past two years to improve their data and technology came at the end of August.

That’s when Data Trust, the private company that functions as an offshoot of the Republican National Committee, announced that it would begin sharing information from its voter file with i360, the entity created by the Koch brothers to house its own voter file and data analytics tools.

For the first time ever, the two biggest voter-file-gathering operations on the right would be working together. They would remain independent of each other, but benefit from the information-gathering work of each other’s volunteers. The data flows would go both ways, and the RNC would for the first time have access to the outside groups’ data…

The sharing agreement between the RNC and the Kochs was not easy to arrange. The RNC had legal questions about whether a party committee and an outside group could share voter data without violating federal law. Democrats, in fact, still accuse them of violating the law and have filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission.

The suit argues that the RNC and the Kochs “appear to be illegally coordinating through the ongoing exchange of non-public strategic campaign and party data, resulting in millions of dollars in prohibited contributions from Super PACs and corporations to Republican campaigns and parties.”

Getting the two sides to cooperate was also an obstacle, insiders told Yahoo News. One source at a party committee referred to it as a “power struggle” between the two groups over who would control data collected by volunteers and paid staff on the ground…

While relations between the RNC and the Koch empire have outwardly improved, theirs remains an uneasy truce. The data-sharing agreement gives the central party a boost, allowing it to make up data-gathering ground it had lost to outside groups, but it also strengthens the Koch empire by giving its analytics firm an array of information the Republican Party has gathered on voters. What the Koch groups do with that data going forward is not something the RNC has any control over, and vice versa…

* “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public…” — The Wealth of Nations

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64Comments

  1. 1.

    Linda Featheringill

    October 28, 2014 at 6:07 pm

    Wealth of Nations:

    Nice quote. :-)

  2. 2.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 28, 2014 at 6:16 pm

    Adam Smith tie wearing fanbois have obviously never so much as cracked open the book.

    Wipe them out. All of them.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    October 28, 2014 at 6:19 pm

    Both sides do it.

  4. 4.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 28, 2014 at 6:24 pm

    The main thrust of the “GOP revamp” was to find some new way to sell the shitty policies that they want to implement, not to reconsider the shitty policies.

    Because that’s they way these assholes roll.

  5. 5.

    Linda Featheringill

    October 28, 2014 at 6:34 pm

    What do you guys think of the Repubs laying out their strategy to do away with Obamacare when they take over the Senate?

  6. 6.

    Baud

    October 28, 2014 at 6:35 pm

    @Linda Featheringill:

    What did they say?

  7. 7.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 28, 2014 at 6:36 pm

    I do believe that this is of great interest to the readership of BJ.

  8. 8.

    Linda Featheringill

    October 28, 2014 at 6:42 pm

    @Baud:

    I didn’t read what the plan was. I realize that they probably have private plans but I found the public announcement of the fact remarkable.

    Of course, they’d have to have enough votes to override a presidential veto.

    The R’s are known for optimism. I wonder if this is a case of unfounded enthusiasm.

  9. 9.

    MomSense

    October 28, 2014 at 6:43 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    HA!!

    @Linda Featheringill:

    Oh no, again? I hate the Republicans. Can’t they just hate on ObamaCare in their own circles and leave those of us who like it alone?

    It has been a really good thing for me and I’m tired of having to even flirt with worrying about whether they will screw over my family (and millions of other people).

    Enough of this BS already.

  10. 10.

    Linda Featheringill

    October 28, 2014 at 6:44 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    That’s cute!

    Thanks. I needed a laugh!

  11. 11.

    Baud

    October 28, 2014 at 6:45 pm

    @Linda Featheringill:

    We’ll see. If they control Congress, they’ll find that governing is different than obstructing.

    On the other hand, the country is so race-polarized, who knows if the old rulebook still works.

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    October 28, 2014 at 6:47 pm

    Things don’t go better with Koch.

  13. 13.

    KG

    October 28, 2014 at 6:50 pm

    @Baud: it’ll be interesting to see what the GOP does. There are enough members of the Crazy Caucus in the House and Senate that they could, in theory, let nothing pass (and I don’t mean the current “nothing”, I mean actual and for true “nothing”).

  14. 14.

    piratedan

    October 28, 2014 at 6:53 pm

    well some people do go for the aesthetics of placing a ribbon-ed bow on a shiny turd and calling it art, most of us just wonder why you wasted a ribbon and bow on a turd.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    October 28, 2014 at 7:01 pm

    @KG:

    The GOP will have a 2016 problem. Presidential year, and there will be no hiding where where the two parties stand if the GOP controls the Senate. Maybe they’ll believe that big money and voter suppression and race-bating will allow them to let their freak fly, however.

  16. 16.

    Another Holocene Human

    October 28, 2014 at 7:01 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: That’s exactly right. Right about the time where Smith is questioning the heads-we-win-tails-you-lose logic of the Crown allowing merchants to freely collude on prices on wages but banning any sort of collective action by skilled laborers in increase their wages through the criminal codes I realized that all those Adam Smith humpers I ran into back in the 80s and 90s had never read the actual book.

    Smith is old hat now, because they all wank about The Road To Serfdom. Don’t think they’ve read it but they’ve seen the slickly produced Youtube cliffnotes versions, same thing.

    And Ayn Rand is as inexplicably popular as ever.

  17. 17.

    Another Holocene Human

    October 28, 2014 at 7:05 pm

    @Baud: It’s 2014 and the GOP already seems kind of subdued.

    The racists were raging all summer and no doubt they’re all as racist as ever (ugh) but in terms of Republican politics the excitement is not there. Not saying the assholes won’t vote but it’s night and day from 2010.

    Part of the problem was that Teabagger dreams came true and it turned out they weren’t the ones they’d been waiting for after all. LOL.

  18. 18.

    El Caganer

    October 28, 2014 at 7:05 pm

    @piratedan: You could probably call it George Eff Will, too.

  19. 19.

    SatanicPanic

    October 28, 2014 at 7:05 pm

    @KG: Government shutdown? Oh I can’t wait for the next debt limit crisis. That should be fun.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    October 28, 2014 at 7:07 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Ayn Rand popularity isn’t inexplicable. She fills a need in the conservative world view right now.

  21. 21.

    Baud

    October 28, 2014 at 7:12 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    The Republicans have nothing to offer their voters after 4 years. But like you said, they are more dedicated voters than our voters are.

  22. 22.

    Comrade Luke

    October 28, 2014 at 7:15 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    I have a sinking feeling that the Dems are going to get routed.

    Maybe it’s just that I saw how clueless the Republicans were last cycle about how they had no shot at the presidency, and I’m wary of falling into the same trap. Still…

  23. 23.

    big ole hound

    October 28, 2014 at 7:15 pm

    @Baud: Control of the Senate and the House will be a huge benefit leading in to 2016. The GOPers will not be able to hide their idiocy and they may well be swept out Congress just in time for a couple of SCOTUS idiots to retire or die. Then we will all breath that sigh relief.

  24. 24.

    raven

    October 28, 2014 at 7:16 pm

    Tweety is a schmuck but he just introduced Michael Steele as the “Chairman on the RNC before they were totally devoted to black voter suppression”. The look on Steele’s face was priceless.

  25. 25.

    Quaker in a Basement

    October 28, 2014 at 7:18 pm

    Am I reading this right? The RNC handed personal data for millions of voters to the Koch brothers? And in return the Kochs provided millions of dollars of in-kind contributions to the party?

    The Kochs could do time for this.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    October 28, 2014 at 7:19 pm

    @big ole hound:

    Hard to know for certain. I hope that’s true if this election goes badly. I’m not one to wish for defeat now on the promise of greater victory later.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    October 28, 2014 at 7:20 pm

    @Quaker in a Basement:

    The Fab 5 on the Supreme Court would make sure that didn’t happen.

  28. 28.

    SatanicPanic

    October 28, 2014 at 7:20 pm

    @Quaker in a Basement: I wouldn’t bet on them doing time for anything

  29. 29.

    PsiFighter37

    October 28, 2014 at 7:21 pm

    Are we going to get a liveblog going again for this election? I had great fun with the 2012 edition…

  30. 30.

    Dee Loralei

    October 28, 2014 at 7:22 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: that’s awesome, thanks for the chuckle.

  31. 31.

    Felanius Kootea

    October 28, 2014 at 7:23 pm

    @Linda Featheringill: Sigh. They’ll find that not too many people are happy about having their new health insurance options taken away. (That includes insurance companies – I’m sure the GOP won’t do too much to hurt those.)

    I voted already (I have permanent vote-by-mail status in California). I’ve convinced most of my family members to vote next Tuesday. Unfortunately we are either in California, New York or Maryland, so it doesn’t help much with the balance of the senate. Wish I could do more in the red states where it matters.

    Wish more states would adopt independent redistricting commissions — it has worked wonders for California. Of course, the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to independent redistricting commissions brought by Arizona legislators, so they still have the opportunity to mess things up in every state that has created an independent commission.

  32. 32.

    Anoniminous

    October 28, 2014 at 7:25 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    The usual suspects have amp’ed the usual hysteria to eleventy but it doesn’t seem like their voting bloc is responding per usual. There’s a small possibility they could lose seats in the Senate if the Dems hang on and Kentucky, South Dakota, and Georgia fall.

    Nobody knows what is going to happen and in a horrible year for Dems that’s as good as it could get.

  33. 33.

    Elizabelle

    October 28, 2014 at 7:26 pm

    Dang. A resupply capsule to the Space Station destroyed tonight when its rocket blew up after takeoff at Wallops Island NASA facility on Virginia Eastern shore. Orbital Sciences rocket.

    Unmanned, apparently no injuries, but what a disappointment to Orbital.

  34. 34.

    Elizabelle

    October 28, 2014 at 7:28 pm

    TCM has Dracula Has Risen from the Grave on. Caught most of earlier Dracula flick too.

    Love me some Hammer films with Christopher Lee. I guess it’s Sir Christopher Lee to us mortals.

    Missed Nosferatu early this morning. Wish they’d rebroadcast it before Halloween. Wunderbar movie.

  35. 35.

    JPL

    October 28, 2014 at 7:39 pm

    If the repubs win the senate will they shut down the government so no more judges can be approved? Actually I think they will blame Obama for not funding the NIH and the CDC during the Ebola crisis. They’ll do it.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    October 28, 2014 at 7:41 pm

    @JPL:

    They don’t have to shut down the government to not approve judges.

  37. 37.

    Patrick

    October 28, 2014 at 7:42 pm

    @MomSense:

    You have nothing to worry about. There is no way whatsoever the GOP will end up with 60 senators in the senate. Thus, the Dems will simply filibuster it. And even if they can persuade 8-9 Democratic senators to join them in repealing the ACA, Obama will just veto it. And there is no way in hell that the GOP would be able to get 67 senators to override Obama’s veto.

  38. 38.

    rikyrah

    October 28, 2014 at 7:45 pm

    @Linda Featheringill:

    this is a surprise?

    come on, now.

  39. 39.

    JPL

    October 28, 2014 at 7:45 pm

    @JPL: Harry Reid plans on holding sessions until January so judges can be confirmed, no matter who holds the Senate. I’m talking about the time between the elections and January.

  40. 40.

    MomSense

    October 28, 2014 at 7:49 pm

    @Patrick:

    Hopefully we won’t have to count on Dems like Manchin or Independents like King who has said he might caucus with the Republicans.

    I guess I’m just sick of being a punching bag for Republican
    “government tyranny” fantasies. I just want to go to the doctor, get prescriptions, and have some measure of protection against bankruptcy if something really bad happens.

  41. 41.

    JPL

    October 28, 2014 at 7:51 pm

    @MomSense: Well if you move to Texas or Florida, you can declare bankruptcy without losing your house.

  42. 42.

    JPL

    October 28, 2014 at 7:54 pm

    @Linda Featheringill: The repubs plan on doing away with medical device tax and mandatory requirements. Both of those will cause the cost of Obamacare to raise. They will then say it’s to expensive.

  43. 43.

    PsiFighter37

    October 28, 2014 at 7:54 pm

    Just for the good record, I predict a 50D/3I/47R Senate come January, with all 3 indies caucusing with the Dems. Mitch McConnell will barely scrape by, but his tears will still be just as delicious.

  44. 44.

    Mnemosyne

    October 28, 2014 at 7:55 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were lifelong friends off-screen. Late in his life, Cushing’s knighthood was announced the same day he got into a bicycle accident. Lee sent him a note saying, “OBE stands for ‘Order of the British Empire,’ not ‘Old Bicyclist Ejected’!”

  45. 45.

    Patrick

    October 28, 2014 at 8:05 pm

    @JPL:

    Not just Republicans. Many Democrats, such as Klobuchar, Franken, Duckworth to mention a few are on board with this as well. Very disappointing. I guess catering to big business rather than individuals works for both parties.

  46. 46.

    TEL

    October 28, 2014 at 8:07 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: That’s hilarious!

  47. 47.

    danielx

    October 28, 2014 at 8:12 pm

    Democrats, in fact, still accuse them of violating the law and have filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission.

    In other news, it has been found via extensive testing that pissing into the wind does not produce good results.

    @Linda Featheringill:

    They are bad people with criminally bad ideas. Next question, please?

  48. 48.

    El Caganer

    October 28, 2014 at 8:14 pm

    @Elizabelle: You can catch the silent version here: http://www.openculture.com/2012/10/watch_quintessential_vampire_film_nosferatu.html

  49. 49.

    Felanius Kootea

    October 28, 2014 at 8:15 pm

    @PsiFighter37: I’ve been visiting Sam Wang’s site (Princeton Election Consortium). He’s predicting GOP: 51 Dems+Independents: 49. There’s also a 50% chance of 50-or-more Dems+Independents being elected next Tuesday but the margin of error for that is plus/minus 15! Here’s hoping.

  50. 50.

    Mnemosyne

    October 28, 2014 at 8:16 pm

    @Comrade Luke:

    Weirdly, NewsMax is making me feel better with headlines like this one:

    Voting Machines May Be Rigged for Democrats

    When they start the excuses this early …

  51. 51.

    Cervantes

    October 28, 2014 at 8:16 pm

    @NotMax:

    I wouldn’t mind the cold, crisp taste of no Koch right about now.

  52. 52.

    Felonius Monk

    October 28, 2014 at 8:17 pm

    There’s always this to look forward to.

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    October 28, 2014 at 8:20 pm

    Cervantes

    Koch Zero?

  54. 54.

    EthylEster

    October 28, 2014 at 8:33 pm

    worthless commenter (well, a long time ago) Don Surber is back and not a fucking thing has changed about him…http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/don-surber-michael-brown-animal-put-down-charleston-daily-mail-apologizes

  55. 55.

    Cervantes

    October 28, 2014 at 8:45 pm

    @EthylEster:

    Well, Don Surber was right. Michael Brown was an animal. So is Darren Wilson. People are animals, with the possible exception of Don Surber, who may be some form of slime mold — one of the myxogastrids, probably.

  56. 56.

    Iowa Old Lady

    October 28, 2014 at 8:53 pm

    @Patrick: I thought the same thing about the Ds being able to filibuster just as well as the Rs have been doing, but it occurred to me that the Rs could change the filibuster rules.

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 28, 2014 at 8:58 pm

    @Cervantes: I have the counsel for slime molds holding for you on line 1. Something about a defamation suit….

  58. 58.

    Lurking Canadian

    October 28, 2014 at 9:18 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: They haven’t read Road to Serfdom, either. In the *first chapter* Hayek comes out in favour of environmental protection, worker safety laws, and a minimum guaranteed standard of living for all citizens.

    Hayek said a lot of bad stuff, and Road to Serfdom is fundamentally wrong, but even at that, he wouldn’t make it in the modern GOP.

  59. 59.

    joel hanes

    October 28, 2014 at 9:58 pm

    @Quaker in a Basement:

    The Kochs could do time for this.

    Nonsense. Laws are for the little people. These guys aren’t Martha Stewart.

  60. 60.

    Patrick

    October 28, 2014 at 10:17 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Yes, but that would be beyond dumb. Obama will still veto. And filibuster rules or not, the GOP would then need to come up with 67 votes in the senate. And they would never get that many votes to repeal ACA. Furthermore, once the filibuster is completely gone, the Democrats which is likely to win back the Senate in 2016, can then run the table on the GOP 2017 and beyond..

  61. 61.

    mclaren

    October 29, 2014 at 12:36 am

    This sounds like wildly overoptimistic Demo spin on the brutal reality that, despite fucking up everything from the U.S. economy to the Iraq quagmire to their utter lack of basic human decency toward people like pregnant women or rape victims, the Republicans stand on the verge of another huge electoral win.

    I swear, there’s just no point. The worse the Republicans fuck up, the more enthusiastically the gullible bully-worshiping lynch mob of cowards misnamed “the American people” elect them.

    Fuck it. Let the country burn.

    Walk away. Just walk away, and ignore the screams of torment and despair behind your back.

  62. 62.

    Cervantes

    October 29, 2014 at 8:05 am

    @mclaren:

    The way of the world is not peace and light. Entropy is not order and justice.

    Whatever peace and light and order and justice there has ever been in this world was not a gift from on high. It was the result of somebody’s work and sacrifice and pain.

    Work and sacrifice and pain do not ever solve the problem — but they can make things a little better — whereas giving up often adds to the problem.

  63. 63.

    Xboxershorts

    October 29, 2014 at 8:47 am

    So, let me get this straight….

    In their soul searching, they opted to completely sell their soul, as opposed to renting it out from time to time….

  64. 64.

    C.V. Danes

    October 29, 2014 at 12:01 pm

    The suit argues that the RNC and the Kochs “appear to be illegally coordinating through the ongoing exchange of non-public strategic campaign and party data, resulting in millions of dollars in prohibited contributions from Super PACs and corporations to Republican campaigns and parties.”

    How quaint that concept sounds in a Citizens United America.

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