GOP operative Karl Rove has published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal arguing that Republicans need to get serious about data and concluding that the right must overcome the digital advantage Democrats enjoyed in the 2012 election. From Rove’s column, published online Wednesday:
Can the GOP catch up? Understanding that today’s technology has the shelf life of a banana, Silicon Valley Republicans are working to modernize the GOP’s voter file in advance of next year’s midterms. They know users want an interactive platform with applications so that any Republican candidate or conservative organization can better identify, persuade and turn out voters.
The information and applications should provide for dynamic microtargeting and at least match the Obama campaign’s ability to connect target voters with volunteers they know or whose interests match their own. It should also be possible to update the master voter file in real time from phone banks, door knocks, online activity and other data streams. The platform will use open architecture, so enterprising GOP developers can build additional applications that candidates and campaigns find useful.
Rove concluded that closing the digital gap will bolster the party’s candidates. “That, in turn, will affect policy—and with it, the course of the nation,” Rove wrote.
