Democrats Aim to Regain Edge In Getting Voters to the Polls

[cal04]

It may seem like a distant memory now, but Democrats not so long ago dominated the battle between the parties to get their voters to the polls.

Over the past half-dozen years, Republicans reinvented the system, using sophisticated computer modeling and vast amounts of consumer data. In 2002 and 2004, they demonstrated their newfound superiority -- to the dismay of Democratic Party officials and their allies.

"It's no secret that the other side figured this out a little sooner," said Josh Syrjamaki, the state director of America Votes, an umbrella organization of labor and liberal interest groups. "They've had four to six years' jump on us on this stuff . . . but we feel like we can start to catch up. I guess we'll find out in about a month and a half how much we've caught up."

On a blustery afternoon in their third-floor office suite, Syrjamaki and Ed Coleman, the technology director for the Minnesota chapter of America Votes, were hunched over a laptop computer, teasing out information that Democrats hope will begin to narrow the sizable gap with the GOP.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/07/AR2006100700388.html

[LetsThink]

1. Yes--- Identify, Empower, Motivate and ..... Get to the Polls .....

..preferably before 11/7!