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.

Polling Gossip

A trust worthy friend in NEMS told me that yesterday he'd gotten a political call.
An approximate transcript of the call:

"Hello, we'd like you to participate in a survey conducted by the Democratic Party. This survey could take up to 15 minutes."

After taking his demographic information the first question was

" If the Democratic Primary for President were held today would you vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama?"

He responded "Barack Obama" and the call ended.

That sounds terribly suspicious to me. Typically, a poll like that wouldn't start with "Conducted by the Democratic Party," and regardless of the outcome of the horserace question they'd continue with the survey. It's a whole range of attitudes and preferences they're looking for. And if it were conducted by the party, or by a candidate, they'd want the whole range of candidates. John Edwards would probably play better in MS than any of the others, if I had to guess.

So barring the entirely likely possibility that it's completely legitimate and the call simply malfunctioned, there are a hand full of possibilities about what this could really be.

It could be part of the microtargeting survey that the state party has been trying to round up money for. But again, they'd want a comprehensive survey, not just a horserace question. And I can't figure out what that particular question might have to do with targeting.

It could have been a push poll. I can't figure out why anybody would drop a push poll in a state without a meaningful primary, but that's an option. When I've had push polls dropped, that's exactly the way they'd go. Step 1. Horserace. If the response wasn't for my candidate they'd get the message that said "would it change your opinion to know that Candidate X committed Y heinous act?" If the ID was for my candidate, the call would end.

However, because of the neighborhood the call was received in and the fact that push polling tends to be more widespread among the other side, it makes me wonder if the call was commissioned by a Republican outfit.

As the title indicates, all of this is wild speculation. It's just interesting to me and I thought I'd share. And if anybody else got a similar call, I'd like to know.