Roger Wicker Microtargeting? I Was Called Today By Target Point Consulting

The questioner with Target Point Consulting called and identified herself and company only identifying it as a research organization. Later I asked for more information on who was collecting the information and she stated that she worked for Target Point Consulting and again only identified them as doing research.

So I looked them up online and their site was almost as equally ambiguous, untill I found this in the news section of their site:

Microtargeting entered the political mainstream in the 2004 election, when White House adviser Karl Rove, who long ran a direct-mail marketing business, deployed it to reach voters whom Mr. Bush's reelection campaign had failed to reach by other means. The Bush campaign gave TargetPoint $3 million to microtarget voters in 18 states. In Florida, the campaign used microtargeting to make contact with 84% of eventual Bush voters, up from 33% in 2000. In Iowa, the campaign reached 92% of his eventual voters, up from 50% in 2000.

Target Point Consulting is a partisan Republican political firm aimed at identifying voters and building profiles so that campaigns can manipulate folks based on their targeted beliefs; this is a step further than traditional demographic targeting.

I believe this is paid for by Roger Wicker's campaign because it asked specifically which candidate between Ronnie Musgrove and Roger Wicker I intended to vote for.

I didn't finish it cutting the questioner off after 7 minutes but the questions asked me to rank various issue groups by importance including sections including social issues (specifically mentioning prayer in schools), healthcare, jobs, and taxes.

Many of the questions focused on energy. Example: "Do you think we should focus on lowering gas prices now or on new technology for long term benifit?" Also asked were if I supported more drilling and such.

It asked if I considered myself pro-life or pro-choice.

The reader of the questions didn't sound like she was from America and read from a script without deviating a word when I asked for clarification.

This kind of investment is smart and will help Wicker and the Mississippi Republican Party for years to come.

In 2003 Haley Barbour's campaign targeted my family for get out the vote because we live in a highly Republican neighborhood.

I suspect after this we won't be seeing nearly as much direct mail and door knockers by the Mississippi Republican Party.

Good luck Ronnie Musgrove, and I sure hope y'all are doing something similar.