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DNC holds national training as it rolls out new voter file |
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By Aaron Blake
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Posted: 08/15/07 06:44 PM [ET] |
In what is billed as the next stage of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) 50 State Strategy, national and state Democratic staffers are convening in Cleveland this week to train on the party’s new multimillion-dollar nationwide voter file.
About 200 Democratic staffers from all 50 states are meeting at Cleveland State University for a three-day intensive training session on the new VoteBuilder program and interface. The goal is to “train the trainer,” allowing attendees to pass knowledge along to Democrats at all levels once they return to their states.
The training represents a final piece of the DNC’s $8 million investment in building up its technology to improve its ground game.
The DNC announced in February that it had signed on with the Voter Activation Network (VAN) to build a nationwide interface for the new voter file, providing greater cohesion from the local level up. The new voter file will be free to all state parties and Democratic candidates.
While the DNC has held regional meetings and training since Chairman Howard Dean announced his 50 State Strategy, the national training is unprecedented.
“For the first time, we’re bringing all of these people together — our entire national and state party partnership staff — and doing a major training that is about really flexing the muscle of the 50 State Strategy,” said DNC spokesman Luis Miranda.
The DNC is focused early on preparing its field program and ground game for the 2008 election while Democratic candidates continue to do battle in the party’s presidential nominating contests.
Democrats feel the new voter file will give them a leg up on the GOP, which is renowned for its vaunted 72-hour get-out-the-vote program and micro-targeting successes.
The nationwide uniformity of the VoteBuilder interface will allow the party to track voters who move and continue updating their information so operatives in their new area will be able to target and understand them more efficiently.
While the DNC credited some of the party’s successes in 2006 — including in states like Ohio — to the controversial 50 State Strategy, Miranda said this week’s training is where the investment really begins to pay off nationally.
Many in the Democratic Party, most notably former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), have differed vehemently with Dean over the strategy, which allocates resource to states and areas where Democrats have not typically been competitive.
“This is really where we start to see the dividends pay off in terms of a really coordinated ground game for ’08,” Miranda said. “Our goal is to hand a turn-key solution to whoever the nominee comes out to be.
“No voter contact will go untracked.”
The training has included presentations by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D) and state party Chairman Chris Redfern, who talked about their victories in 2006. After years of struggles in the state, Ohio Democrats captured the governorship, a Senate seat and a House seat in 2006.
Dean will make an appearance as well.
The DNC made a major commitment to rebuilding its voter file after the 2004 election, in which the GOP cited its superior VoterVault program as a main reason for victory.
After focusing on cleaning up their data, the Democrats signed VAN and reached agreements with all 50 states to share all voter data.
The voter file has been rolled out in 46 states since April.
“We believe that VoteBuilder, coupled with trained staff on the ground, goes far beyond anything anyone has ever done, and far beyond where the GOP was in 2004,” said DNC technology director Ben Self.
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