25: Data & Technology

Engage in a people-intensive effort from the precinct level up to put data in the appropriate data platform.

Other Information:

Technology: Organize or Lose -- As stated in other sections of this report, one of the clearest lessons from 2012 is that Republicans must catch up on how we utilize technology in our campaigns. The Obama team is several years ahead of everyone else in its technological advantage, which the campaign effectively combined with an incredible organizational effort. This gave the Obama campaign more information on voters than any other political campaign in history, and it had the right analytics team in place to effectively leverage this voter data to reshape and win the election. This data collection and analytics effort was woven through every aspect of the campaign, including testing and re-testing innovative approaches to connecting with voters and integrating the use of data and analytics throughout the campaign. Carol Mumford, Republican National Committeewoman from Rhode Island, told us: "What the Obama campaign did was run a national campaign like a local election." That is a lesson many people miss, because they are so taken by the technology utilized by the Obama campaign. The RNC and our friends and allies must understand that it is going to take an incredibly people-intensive effort from the precinct level up to have the data to put in the appropriate data platform that is developed. All the technology in the world is worthless if you don't have the data. And the data is only useful if it is analyzed and utilized in tandem with our messaging and ground game, not to mention fundraising. We understand that our team must improve, and must improve quickly on technology and organization. This will require resources, focus, and time, so we cannot wait until the cusp of the next election to begin. This effort will also require teamwork among the RNC, NRSC, NRCC, RGA, RSLC, and the many friends and allies to determine how we can legally get all the data together, share it and utilize it in coming campaigns. To be clear, this needs to be a collaborative project and not one team deciding to do everything itself. Teamwork is hard in politics, particularly when so many groups have big piles of money and can go their own way. The RNC can and must lead on this issue. Our campaign mechanics section in this report lays out our recommendations on how to get started with a strong platform of our own.

Stakeholder(s):

• RNC


• NRSC


• NRCC


• RGA


• RSLC

Objective(s):

25.1: Data &Technology Improvements

25.2: People & Organization

Content