The G.O.P.’s Digital Makeover – NYTimes.com

Political quote of the day “We were the Blackberry of politics.”

The use of high-tech voter contact and turnout techniques is of particular importance in American elections because the percentage of the voting age population that actually casts ballots is so low – in the mid-50 percent range in presidential years, in the 35 to 37 percent range in non-presidential years. A seemingly small boost of 2 to 3 percent can often change the outcome.

Interviews with Republicans who worked on the R.N.C. report, as well as with party consultants who specialize in microtargeting, media research and digital communications, produced universal agreement with the Priebus report. A majority of those I spoke to asked not to be quoted by name because they do not want to publicly fault the strategy and tactics of their own party.

Their criticism of bad leadership decisions included the unwillingness of the Romney campaign – or the McCain team in 2008, for that matter — to open the strategy-making process to hypertargeting pioneers who were breaking new ground, trawling social media sites and deploying online and offline data to create customized voter appeals.

Republican operatives also criticized the fund-raising and planning during the period when Michael Steele served as R.N.C. chair in 2009 and 2010, and they noted the loss of interest by the Bush White House, and in particular Karl Rove, in tackling the frontiers of data management once the 2004 election had been won.

“We definitely had the head start in 2004,” one Republican involved in the campaign said. “After that, Bush couldn’t run again, and Karl just stopped caring. We were the Blackberry of the day.”

via The G.O.P.’s Digital Makeover – NYTimes.com.