Democrats' Data Mining Stirs an Intraparty Battle (Ickes, Soros)

[iconocrastic]

With Private Effort on Voter Information, Ickes and Soros Challenge Dean and DNC

By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 8, 2006; A01

A group of well-connected Democrats led by a former top aide to Bill Clinton is raising millions of dollars to start a private firm that plans to compile huge amounts of data on Americans to identify Democratic voters and blunt what has been a clear Republican lead in using technology for political advantage.

The effort by Harold Ickes, a deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House and an adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), is prompting intense behind-the-scenes debate in Democratic circles. Officials at the Democratic National Committee think that creating a modern database is their job, and they say that a competing for-profit entity could divert energy and money that should instead be invested with the national party.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/07/AR2006030701860_pf.html

edit to expand header

[msongs]

1. how can I get out of this database? I am sick of hillary campaign pimping

in my mailbox. sheesh, I live 3000 miles from new york.

and this does not mean I wouldnt vote for her.

but I do not want dems selling my information for cash for trash.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/democratsmugs.htm

[FreedomAngel82]

3. And to me that doesn't make any sense

Why would they want to send Email and updates to people who won't vote for her? I'm on her mailing EMail list but only because I signed up. Just like I'm on Frist's because he's my senator and I like to keep an eye on him. I don't like the idea of them paying for people's personal information.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. They are only 'data mining' public information...

Unlike the shrub who is 'data mining' everything personal.

[formernaderite]

18. ha, ha ...you too?

I'm thinking I must have donated to somebody on her Hillpac donations list.

[FreedomAngel82]

2. Aren't they supposed to ask your permission??

[jwirr]

5. As I read the article this would not be exclusively for

Hillary - they are building a data base for the Democratic Party. I did that on a small basis for walking decks years ago when we were not yet doing it on computers. I remember setting on the floor at headquarters with stacks of data cards all around me and arranging them so we could identify voting Democrats.

[madfloridian]

6. The DNC did have a database called Demzilla.

Where is it?

[jwirr]

11. The one I worked on was from the 70s. I assume the updated

it every year?

[madfloridian]

13. Here is a post about it...Must have been updated.

Given to all of the party groups just before Dean came on board. Here is my thread tonight. I have quite a bit in it about what went on. I have more but it will stir stuff up. Will post another day if needed.

Bottom line, they don't like the way Dean is spreading out to all the states, rebuilding the parties from the ground up. It will change the way the party operates.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x601934

[iconocrastic]

16. Aug 26, 2004 Democrats Unleash 'Demzilla' On The GOP

An open-source data mart, tied to home-grown BI tools, is helping the DNC wage an election year data war against the Republicans.

By Scott Eden, Business Intelligence Pipeline Linux Pipeline (2 page article)

With Election Day little more than three months away, the technology department at the Democratic National Committee is hiring, and evidently their desire to staff up at such a late date has a lot to do with the success of their huge voter and donor tracking system.

About three years ago, the DNC hired Plus Three, a small technology firm that specializes in IT consulting for nonprofit organizations, to help build its system. The decision came at a pivotal moment, not long before the 2002 midterm elections, when the Republican Party had had such a system up and running for some time.

The DNC, meanwhile, had a decrepit internal database running off an AS/400. It had a green-screen terminal interface, and it contained an e-mail donor list of just 70,000 people, said Doug Kelly, the DNC's technology director. "When you think that 50 million people voted for Gore, we did a dismal job."

more
http://www.linuxpipeline.com/trends/42700029

[madfloridian]

7. I don't like this.

"Ickes's effort is drawing particular notice among Washington operatives who know about it because of speculation that he is acting to build a campaign resource for a possible 2008 presidential run by Hillary Clinton. She has long been concerned, advisers say, that Democrats and liberals lack the political infrastructure of Republicans and their conservative allies. Ickes said his new venture, Data Warehouse, will at first seek to sell its targeting information to politically active unions and liberal interest groups, rather than campaigns.

As it stands now, the DNC and Data Warehouse, created by Ickes and Democratic operative Laura Quinn, will separately try to build vast and detailed voter lists -- each effort requiring sophisticated expertise and costing well over $10 million.

"From an institutional standpoint, this is one of the most important things the DNC can and should do. Building this voter file is part of our job," Communications Director Karen Finney said. "We believe this is something we have to do at the DNC. Our job is to build the infrastructure of the party." (Yes, Karen, you are right.)

Who is paying for this database formation? Who will get it? Ickes is famous for Clinton loyalty. And Soros for big money.

I don't like this move at all. I like the 50 state strategy, and I like the way Dean is involving people in this again.

[hughee99]

8. I don't really see the issue here...

If the DNC is not capable of doing this effectively, why would it bother them that a private company financed with private money is going to try to do it better? Isn't the end-goal the same, to provide Democratic candidates and other affiliated organizations with the best possible information? If they can do it better, the DNC can contract with them to get the information.

[madfloridian]

9. The DNC has a large small donor database, Ickes wants big donor.

There should not be someone outside doing this. Dean has hired on new people for this purpose.

Ickes is too tied to Hillary's campaign as an advisor to be doing this.

[hughee99]

10. I still don't understand what your getting at...

While I'm not thrilled about the fact that Ickes is so closely tied to Hillary's campaign, it's simply a duplication of efforts. The DNC will not end up with any less information than they have now, and if the people he hired are able to do it better, what have they lost? If the people he hired are not able to do it as well, they can always buy the information. How will they lose on this?

[madfloridian]

12. I posted in detail in GD tonight.

I have a lot of info here that I am too tired to repost. This is like forming a private entity outside the DNC, instead of working with it. At least that is the way I am seeing it right now.

What happened to the database called Demzilla. That is one of the keys. I have more info on this, but it is very late. And some is the type that pushes 04 primary buttons...too tired to go there tonight.

Here is the link to my post.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x601934

[hughee99]

14. According to this article, it seem the DNC still has Demzilla

http://www.ariannaonline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=243677&mode=threaded
The problem was just that McAuliffe shared it with the DSCC and DCCC and there is the fear of "donor exhaustion" where all three groups are hitting up the same donors. This is the same situation that the repukes have going on (sharing the database). The issue seems to be that the DNC doesn't want to share the list (or at least wants to control all access to it) because it gives them less than power over the DSCC and DCCC. I guess were Dean to get his wish and restore all access to the DNC only, the DSCC and DCCC would have the option to go to this private company rather than to the DNC to get the data. If they data they end up compiling yields the same information, then they will end up with the same "donor exhaustion" problem they have now. If the data yields different information, then they will have access to more donors. Frankly, I'd like to believe that Demzilla is the as comprehensive as possible, but if that isn't the case, then there is potential gain here in expanding the donor base. That's how I see it now anyway, perhaps with more info on this startup, I'll think differently, though.

[madfloridian]

15. What it comes down to is this...

Loyalty to the old way or accepting the new way. The new way is allowing the people into the party. It may not work.

I don't like the fact that Ickes loyalty lies so closely to the traditional way, and he is very tied to the Clintons.

Dean brought his own people in, they did not like that at all.

We will just have to see how this plays out.

Hey, doesn't bother me at all if they don't like him as chair. I did not want him to do it either. If they aren't willing to accept change in the party, then maybe he can just get out and run again. You never know.

We knew this would happen.

[OzarkDem]

17. Not a fan of the "private" approach

Any move to make private profit on exploiting Dem voters and issues should be nipped in the bud, period. That's a losing proposition, sure to do nothing to advance the Dem agenda.

Adding profit to the equation will completely distort the Democratic party ideals and remove public policy from the public into the private profit sector. Next thing you know, they'll be pressuring the Dem leaders to change their stand on issues or support for candidates to enable them to "raise more money". Next thing you know, ideas are coming from the top down instead of from the bottom up.