Trump went data shopping (got pitch from firm owned by Ted Cruz mega-donor) before signing up for free @GOP file. https://t.co/1f6rRQlPy7
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) December 29, 2015
They now have 1-month to become fluent in voter files, targeting, and direct contact programs. https://t.co/1MKVKsdUTV
— Adrian Gray (@adrian_gray) December 29, 2015
This sounds to me like the old horror-movie trope “No, now I’ve got you trapped, right where I want you” — but I’m not sure which side is speaking. From the Politico article:
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, which has faced doubts about its ability to translate enthusiasm into votes, in the past few weeks quietly signed an agreement allowing it to use the Republican National Committee’s massive voter file, POLITICO has learned.
The list-sharing agreement, which reveals a new level of cooperation between the GOP and its surprise front-runner, could be highly beneficial to both sides.
For the Trump campaign, it means access to a database containing a trove of information on more than 200 million Americans, which can be used to power a get-out-the-vote effort. And for the RNC, it means that any information Trump collects from his supporters, many of whom are not traditional Republicans, will be fed back into the database for future use by the party and its candidates…
All the grubby details at the link, but for those of us not enthralled by #moneyball-style dissections of number crunching, it does seem as though both parties are liable to end up with a lot less than they’re hoping to gain… and, Murphy the Trickster God willing, there would seem to be potential for data-leakage monkey-mischief…
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Apart from wishing (further) confusion to our enemies, what’s on the agenda for the day?
Tuesday Morning Open Thread: If Ya Can’t Beat ‘Em…Post + Comments (207)