In Flashy New World of Campaign Tech, List Rental Is Still a Political Force
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Media coverage of political campaigns nowadays tends to focus on things like social media, tech-savvy organizing and voter micro-targeting popularized by Obama campaign quants. But those bright, shiny objects distract from the mundane, yet proven tradition of donor-list rental.
In politics, as in business, you have to spend money to make money. And the renting of donor lists is one of the best ways to do that. In fact, contact lists gathered by the Obama for America and Romney for President campaigns are among the largest political lists around today, and they’re essentially for sale.
A perusal of Federal Election Commission reports turns up rentals of all sorts by political campaigns and advocacy groups. Sign an online petition supporting gun rights lately? Attend a campaign event? Donate to a nonprofit or political candidate? You’re on one or more lists somewhere as a result.
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