Catalist for Victory How Nonprofits and Unions Have Struggled to Re-elect President Obama By Neil Maghami Summary: Supposedly nonpartisan non- profi ts on the Left and their union allies have exploited the latest “microtargeting” technology as they’ve worked feverishly to elect Democrats. The most powerful weapon in their arsenal is Catalist LLC, a state-of- the-art data fi rm that services both “non- partisan” nonprofi ts and every would-be Democrat offi ceholder who can afford it. (Note: This study went to press shortly before the election.) inning in war, quipped a Southern leader in the Civil War, is all Wabout getting to the battlefi eld “fi rstest with the mostest.” That’s a formula for victory in presidential politics, too. When it comes to mustering all possible support on Election Day 2012 for the Democratic Party, unions and tax-exempt left-wing groups have played a critical role in the party’s get-out- the-vote strategy. Since 2006 a high-tech Harold Ickes: mob lawyer, political power broker, president of Catalist LLC. operation called Catalist LLC has helped contact over 46% of the U.S. adult population. over 20% of all votes cast. Furthermore, both unions and tax-exempt groups fi ne-tune Contacts were delivered in-person, over the 82% of progressive activities occurred in their electoral infl uence to the point that they phone, by mail and over the internet.” 16 highly contested states. Progressives may well provide the Democrats the edge contacted 37% of all the people who voted they need. Catalist says that “data stored by all pro- in the 16 battlegrounds.” gressive groups (over 90 organizations, Catalist boasts it was vital to President campaigns and committees) working with Obama’s 2008 victory. By its own admission, [us] in the 2008 cycle shows that presidential November 2012 “over 90 organizations, campaigns and com- [voter] ID activity alone reached 15,452,954 CONTENTS mittees” used the company’s services. “Based people—a difference of over 80% [compared on data that was loaded into the Catalist to 2004]. Overall, Catalist customers were re- databases and then standardized,” a Catalist sponsible for generating over 7 million voter Catalist for Victory analysis of the 2008 cycle says, “progressive registration applications. They completed Page 1 organizations, the Obama campaign, and over 127 million contacts to over 49 million federal party committees attempted to contact unique individuals. Of these individuals, 28 Briefl y Noted more than 106 million people. This means million voted on Election Day, representing Page 8 that the progressive community attempted to OrganizationTrends If this is what Catalist and its allies could behaviors collected from widely diverse representatives would ask for old voter IDs achieve in 2008, imagine their goals for sources synthesized into easy to use compiled from canvassers and phone banks. 2012, after four more years of refi ning their and potent variables for targeting your The best-case scenario was often being in- techniques. This edition of Organization communications. troduced to a desk drawer fi lled with records Trends examines the who’s, why’s, and how’s from past elections that the groups had never of Catalist. We’ll also explore Catalist’s link Catalist maintains a 270+ million 50 synthesized into a permanent fi le. In Catalist’s to George Soros, the Left’s Daddy Warbucks. state and DC database of voting age hands, each individual ID would be another And we’ll look at some of Catalist’s known persons that combines the best in class data point that the algorithms could use as customers in the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt com- commercial data with the most rigor- they profi led individuals. Catalist’s ‘ballots munity and among labor unions. ous and thorough national voter fi le. cast’ table—the simple voter-fi le category of Catalist is nationally recognized for the who voted in which election—quickly had What is Catalist? superior quality of its voter database, well over a billion pieces of data.” Acccording to its website (www.catalist. and has distinguished itself nationally us), Catalist is for world-class database matching abil- Soros wasn’t the only person enthusiastic ity.… We carry data on more than 180 about this new approach. The leadership the data ‘utility’ to support progressive million registered voters, including their of the now-notorious Association of Com- organizations—large and small; local, party registration, vote history, as well munity Organizations for Reform Now regional, and national; advocacy, is- as other variables from offi cial voter (ACORN) was so taken with Catalist that sue, and election focused. We compile, rolls, such as date of birth, registration they rhapsodized about it in a 2006 internal enhance, store and dynamically update date, race, and political geography. document. Under “Goals and Objectives person-level data for the entire U.S. Unregistered adults are also carefully for 2007,” ACORN declared “our access adult population and provide the tools screened, and Catalist carries over 85 to sophisticated data has taken a giant leap and expertise necessary to plan, analyze, million unregistered adults. We then forward through our involvement with and execute data-driven progressive combine the best commercial, census, the [data] warehouse Catalist.” Catalist’s programs. and specialty data available, producing services would augment ACORN’s already- over 700 fi elds of data for modeling and strong ability to produce “research on eligible As a unique national data consortium, analysis purposes. voting age populations, voter turnout, and Catalist provides an unparalleled com- voter demographics.” bination of dynamically updated data Catalist, a for-profi t company, was created in from billions of actual individual civic 2006 after the Democrats’ electoral wipeout Catalist and “the real world of politics” in 2004. Left-wing activists felt Republicans The nonpartisan Campaign Finance Insti- Editor: Matthew Vadum owed George W. Bush’s re-election victory to tute (CFI) at George Washington Univer- heavy investments in voter contact technol- sity highlighted some important aspects of Publisher: Terrence Scanlon ogy, including databases. Catalist’s work in a 2009 report, taking a Organization Trends “top-down” view of Catalist’s activities. is published by Capital Research Harold Ickes, a former Clinton aide, can This top-down perspective is vital, because Center, a non-partisan education and claim credit for Catalist’s creation. As Sasha if you think of Catalist merely in terms of research organization, classifi ed by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Issenberg writes in The Victory Lab: The Se- its client base, or its funders, you miss the cret Science of Winning Campaigns, Ickes’s larger story of how it works to enshrine the Address: arguments in 2006 for a “data utility” found political power of the far Left in Washington. 1513 16th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20036-1480 a receptive audience in billionaire George Soros, the fi rst to commit $1 million to the The report emphasized that America’s “cam- Phone: (202) 483-6900 new venture. Ickes says Soros wanted to paign fi nance regime” is so complex that it Long-Distance: (800) 459-3950 help Catalist because he “comes from the “obscure[s] political reality and obstruct[s] E-mail Address: European mentality and I think he was very coherent thought about” how that regime [email protected] enthusiastic about voter contact, much more works: than media—he didn’t give the back of his Web Site: http://www.capitalresearch.org hand to media but thought voter contact was Real world political actors see the world something that we ought to, as progressives, more clearly. An instructive example Organization Trends welcomes let- get involved in.” is provided by Catalist, a three-year- ters to the editor. old limited liability corporation which Reprints are available for $2.50 pre- Issenberg continues the story: “When cli- produces a national database of approxi- paid to Capital Research Center. ents signed on [in 2006], Catalist account mately 230 million voting age Ameri- 2 November 2012 OrganizationTrends cans. This voter fi le integrates data on concentrated on “infrequent Democratic In the 2008 cycle, SEIU claims over 3,000 individual voting history with consumer voters” and “African American and Latino members, leaders, and staff “voluntarily information, helping campaigns defi ne voters,” particularly in two key congres- took time off of their jobs to go into the their target audiences and produce ef- fi eld” and work for Obama’s victory. “They sional districts. fective messages. were joined by more than 100,000 of their fellow nurses, janitors, childcare providers What conclusion can we draw? (Admittedly, “Based on the targeting model built through and other workers who volunteered after this may not be CFI’s intended conclusion.) Catalist, SEIU members knocked on 118,765 work and on weekends in battleground states In the “real world” of politics, Catalist is doors, made 186,145 calls and registered and districts.” a key, perhaps even central element, in a 14,003 voters” in these two districts. Armed well-thought-out, well-integrated strategy to with Catalist’s analysis of voter informa- What is microtargeting? mobilize specifi c interest groups on behalf To understand how Catalist and its data tion, SEIU could direct its efforts where of partisan interests seeking power. Catalist services help SEIU deploy resources more ef- is serious about its goals, clear-eyed about they would most aid Obama. Catalist sig- fi ciently, we need to understand “microtarget- who it has to mobilize, and what instruments nifi cantly improved the accuracy of SEIU’s ing.” We all know the blizzard of ads, phone it can use to mobilize them. outreach. calls, and door-knocking campaigns that both parties bring to bear during presidential How Catalist works Did Catalist’s assistance make a difference? election years.