During the 2012 presidential race, Democrats used big data to much success. The big data approach to micro-targeting voters is getting increasingly powerful, and is being used for midterm campaigns.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: And let's take a look now at a campaign tool that Democrats used to great effect in the 2012 presidential race: Big Data. The Obama campaign stunned the opposition with its hi-tech ability to reach and mobilize voters. Now, liberal superPACs and independent groups are applying that technology to the midterm elections, with help from wealthy progressive donors.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: NPR's Peter Overby reports.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: If there was a central planning for progressive political donors, it might be the Democracy Alliance, a loose but powerful collection of top-tier givers who try to set common goals.</s>GARA LAMARCHE: We set our strategies every three years, and then we kind of sunset them and take a look at what needs to happen in the future. So we're in the middle of that.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: This is Gara LaMarche, president of the Democracy Alliance. He says one top priority is building a ground operation for the long run. Take advantage of America's changing demographics and generate more votes from women, African-Americans and Hispanics in elections running thru the next redistricting.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Demographics are not complete destiny, and they take investment, and they take delivery to the communities involved. I think everybody understands that victory is there to be won, but only with sufficient investment, and I think people are willing to step up and do that.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: What's new is that the investment won't just buy more TV ads. Regular TV continues to lose its punch as voters get political messages through websites and social media. The big-data approach to micro-targeting voters is getting increasingly powerful.</s>CHRIS LEHANE: You know, as we're speaking, the technology is getting better and better and better in terms of precision targeting.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Chris Lehane is political adviser to one prominent member of the Democracy Alliance, California investor Tom Steyer. Lehane says donors used to shun ground operations. Based on door-knocking and lawn signs, their impact couldn't be measured. So where would contributors direct their dollars?</s>CHRIS LEHANE: To the paid media side...</s>CHRIS LEHANE: ...if for no other reason than you could actually see a TV spot and know it was playing.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Last year, Steyer, Lehane's boss, spent $8 million using TV ads integrated with a sophisticated field operation to help elect Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe in Virginia.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: For the midterms, Steyer is committing $50 million to help pro-environment candidates and another three million for union-backed efforts in state races. Labor is targeting states, where Republicans took control four years ago and where unions hope to build a long-term infrastructure.</s>MICHAEL PODHORZER: After each election, we're thinking about what life is gonna look like in two years.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Michael Podhorzer is political director of the AFL-CIO. He says that changes in the lives of voters will mean changes in labor's strategy and technology, although the core remains the same.</s>MICHAEL PODHORZER: For the labor movement, this is not something new. I mean, we're in a sense the original social network.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: And as Democracy Alliance donors spread their wealth to other progressive stalwarts, women's groups, environmentalists and others Podhorzer says they all benefit.</s>MICHAEL PODHORZER: In the last several cycles, progressive donors have seen greater and greater value coming out of progressive ground operations, and have invested in it.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Another donor in the Democracy Alliance, financier George Sorosv, has given more than $2 million to a firm called Catalist, and he sends a million dollars a year to the nonprofit America Votes. That's according to a Soros adviser. Both entities supply data and analytics to liberal groups.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Meanwhile, conservatives are striving to catch up. GOP strategist Karl Rove has pushed one plan, while the Koch Brothers network developed another and the Republican National Committee has acquired a third.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Again, liberal strategist Chris Lehane.</s>CHRIS LEHANE: I do think that this is, you know, arguably the biggest disruption in how political campaigns have been run, at the nuts and bolts level, since the advent of television.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: This is not to say that attack ads will go away. Instead, those messages will be more targeted and coming at you on multiple platforms.</s>PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.