Obama's Moneyball: Treating Voters Like Hunks O Meat

Big Data Meets Big Government; It's a Moneyball World Now | Cris Sheridan | FINANCIAL SENSE: "If you haven’t read Michael Lewis’ Moneyball or seen the film on which it is based, I highly recommend picking up a copy or Netflixing the movie tonight. Why? Because this week’s behind-the-scenes glimpse of how the Obama campaign used big data to influence voters, raise vast sums of money, and achieve winning results proves one thing: It’s a Moneyball world now.

Consider Inside the Secret World of the Data Crunchers Who Helped Obama Win

On Nov. 4, a group of senior campaign advisers agreed to describe their cutting-edge efforts with TIME on the condition that they not be named and that the information not be published until after the winner was declared. What they revealed as they pulled back the curtain was a massive data effort that helped Obama raise $1 billion, remade the process of targeting TV ads and created detailed models of swing-state voters that could be used to increase the effectiveness of everything from phone calls and door knocks to direct mailings and social media."

Eye candy, as he said.

UPDATE: From the comments on the Time article (be sure to click through and RTWT):

KathleenSmithDoyle
2 days ago
Am I the only person commenting who actually worked with this data on Votebuilder and Dashboard? Seems to me you are "opinionated boys or girls who havn't done the reading". I logged 5-10 hours a week since last January working only with this data. It is here to stay, it is driven by metrics, social media and email marketing but it's also flawed. It makes no allowances for actual knowledge of the people in the communities it purports to serve. It is driven by the top, field officers get fired for not making the required number of calls or canvases no matter if the calls or canvases are effective. There really needs to be a review of this or you can count on getting 5 calls a day and 6 canvasses in the next election cycle. Now compound that if the Republicans ever wake up and learn arithmetic instead of blowing hot air on Faux News. It works, it's micro targeted but there is still a lot of room for improvement. Still, this is the future of elections people say what you will. Nate Silver and the geeks running this for Obama know what they are doing and do it well. It's about Getting Out the Vote, as long as people under 30, Latinos, the LGBT community, African Americans and Women vote in huge numbers white men and evangelicals will never win another election. It's numbers, that's all it is. The face of America has changed now and forever. Face it.