Hi folks, my latest Campaigns & Elections magazine Technology Bytes column is out, and you don’t want to miss it. The current edition leads off with a discussion of the voter-data infrastructure being created by the Koch brothers’ political machine, centered around consulting firm i360. Many Democratic techies are sincerely worried about what the Kochs are building, as you’ll see in the piece, and the article also notes that the Kochs are operating outside of the Republican party structure.
Basically, they’re building a parallel technology ecosystem independent of the RNC! Which raises the question: what happens if they stray from party orthodoxy? This development could turn out to be huge for U.S. politics in the coming years, and in ways that may be difficult to predict.
Also in the current issue: self-serve ad platforms take targeting down-ballot, grassroots tools like the VAN reach local candidates, and we look ahead to 2016 and wonder if campaigns will find enough trained digital staff to meet their needs. Check it out.
– cpd