A primer for rich donors who got taken to the cleaners by GOP consultants
See, my rich friends, you think you are in charge. But go ask your Super PAC friends where the data is. Tell them you want the data. More importantly, ask them how they did the layers for the data. Did they layer consumer information on top of voter data or the opposite? Surprisingly, you can get completely different results putting voter data on top of consumer data, instead of adding consumer data to a known, quantifiable pool of voters. The latter is more accurate, saves time, and is what the Obama team did that the GOP largely did not do. It is what the Democrats did with their Catalist program.
Instead, you rich donors funded a bunch of Super PACs that spent a lot of money on ads, making killer commissions for the ad guys, did a lot of mail that made killer commissions for the mail guys, and did a lot of technology smoke and mirror baloney that made you feel like you were reaching persuadable, when really you were peeing money down a rat hole.
You got played.
Now I’ve just explained how to do real voter outreach to you. Now I’ve explained what the real data is and why it is so valuable. There are groups out there like Gravity doing this with smart donors and giving it to Tea Party groups so everyone can use the data, instead of setting up some consultant to be the king maker and power broker.
So rich guy, you want to win or you want to be the gate keeper? Right now, you are a gate keeper and you aren’t even keeping your money. Time to do better. Time to understand what the data is and that you want it collected, but not hordes if you want to win.
Blowback
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I hate it when valid arguments are made by a tool like Erickson..
gatorboy on November 27, 2012 at 11:52 AM
Gravity or No Gravity – There is NO Substitute for a Candidate who Means what they say.
Romney faced the Big Problem of, as his aide siad, Etch-a-Sketch.
Ronald Reagan was who he was. He beleived the things he said BEFORE he said them, he never had to go looking for his position on ANY issue, and when he spoke you KNEW he MEANT IT!
That is the Atitdote to Media Bias.
Appeasement of the Media will NEVER WORK! Tryintg to appear NOT SO DANGEROUS to the Media is a complete waste of time.
And if you spend One Nano Second shaping a position before you present it – You are simply not genuine and people can tell.
Above all else,
Republicans need a Candidate Who Means What They Say
and
A Candidate Who will dans with Who Brung ‘Em.
jaydee_007 on November 27, 2012 at 11:58 AM
That’s why I never donate. Too much of it ends up in the wrong place. Elections are a financial paradise for
con menconsultants.a capella on November 27, 2012 at 11:58 AM
Is Erickson on the list as well?
Mitoch55 on November 27, 2012 at 11:58 AM
Yup.
the_nile on November 27, 2012 at 11:58 AM
I think a significant portion of the billion dollars the GOP had to pay the MSM was hush money to buy their silence so they wouldn’t report all the cheating by the establishment during the R primaries.
FloatingRock on November 27, 2012 at 12:01 PM
Add to that, Republicans need a Candidate that Understands that you Compromise in order to gain ground.
You do not Compromise just to get an agreement.
jaydee_007 on November 27, 2012 at 12:02 PM
The candidate’s ability to get past the news media and have a history of CONSISTENCY matters.
michaelo on November 27, 2012 at 12:04 PM
I am sure there is a paycheck for him somewhere…
astonerii on November 27, 2012 at 12:05 PM
I gave to SarahPAC. At least some of Sarah’s candidates closed the deal.
victor82 on November 27, 2012 at 12:08 PM
Thank god for Erick and his wisdom.
He is always so right after the fact.
What I like most about him is his ability to stick with his conseeeervative principles even if it means losing an election.
It’s better to say “I told you so” than it is to win.
NeoKong on November 27, 2012 at 12:10 PM
They did not get played. They got access and some degree of control over political candidates. This last election cycle didn’t produce the goods but you could make an argument that big money had a hand in that. Think back to the primaries which Romney could and should have sown up early but two candidates and their sugar daddies managed to stretch out the primary season with their money and ads attacking Romney as an out of touch financier. They prepared the ground for the Obama campaign.
Big money will be back and better organized than before. Those large donors still have enormous sway in US politics.
lexhamfox on November 27, 2012 at 12:11 PM
Here’s the deal about what Erickson wrote: RS is owned by Eagle Publishing.
Who owns Eagle Publishing? The board is made up of D.C. suits. Let’s see how long Erick’s editorial independence lasts.
victor82 on November 27, 2012 at 12:13 PM
LOL
Any reason, any reason whatsoever that takes the blame off Romney for his failure. ANY REASON!
astonerii on November 27, 2012 at 12:16 PM
The consultants – on both sides – did EXACTLY what they are paid to do. Basically, they acted as glorified marketing agencies.
The big difference was in the PRODUCT, not in how it was packaged. Barack Hussein Obama has a committed customer base who know precisely where he stands, and will support him to the bitter end. While Mitt Romney didn’t add anything to his ticket except a blank slate designed to offend as few people as possible.
Which sells more: Cap’n Crunch or pablum? Sure one is a lot more poisonous than the other, but its target customers are hooked on it. And the best advertising agency in the world will never fix that.
Now consider Grape Nuts. It has the flavor and consistency of gravel. But there are people who buy it anyway, because they think it’s good for them. It has something called a customer base. That, by itself, may not be enough. But at least it’s something a marketing firm can work with.
logis on November 27, 2012 at 12:19 PM
Morton Blackwell wrote something similar in the Daily Caller yesterday.
Donald Draper on November 27, 2012 at 12:27 PM
You also need a candidate with charisma so that voters tune in to the person regardless of the media. A person of interest who voters want to follow learn about their programs see what they are up too that day. I person that connects with the avg person on an emotional level. Of course if the gop ever had such a person the GOP establishment, media and the dems would all attack that person until they were grind in dust and the “smart”
peoplesheep would accept those attacks word for word . The gOPe will pick the next boring white guy inline in 2016 most likely Jeb and then try to buy the election by using fancy ads, voter tested words and speeches, spify campaign slogans. instead of win it on passion and charisma and time tested beliefsunseen on November 27, 2012 at 12:27 PM
Not really, many of these large donors hedged their bets and donated to both sides, so that they’d have a sympathetic ear in Washington no matter who won.
UltimateBob on November 27, 2012 at 12:28 PM
We lost these chumps made millions;
Karl Rove – formed american crossroads- raised $100 million from donors that could have gone to indiviual candidates (think allan west could have used a little more money). Rove picked where he spent the money, on his salary, on his expenses etc.. He made a forunate losing.
Ed Gillespie- Rove’s partner and Romneycare’s chief strategist- Coordinated with rove to waste money.
RNC- reise Preius- Coordinated with Rove/Gillespie to grease skids for Romney over last 4 years. Moved up/front loaded primaries so romney’s money advantage would kill competition, held back results of Romney losing Iowa a month so Santorium wouldn’t get momentum.
Neil Newhouse- Romney’s chief pollster, who was telling romney at a pretty penny he was winning right up till 8PM EST 11/6. Now this azz met with rino Jeb bush this past wednesday to continue losing races and getting rich.
DICK Morris- still trying to figure our how clinton’s democrat now advises republicans. He told us up until election day that romneycare would win with 340 electorial votes, that we shouldn’t believe the polls that had obama up. Like always he would state, visit my website, by my book etc.. What a scam.
Fox news- got their huge ratings, gave us romneycare, hired all these elite northeast rinos; Dana perino, bill o’reilly, etc.. Closed out tea party viewpoints. Now that Obama wins they get better ratings.
GOP establishment- never lose, keep getting our money, always dissapoint us, put up rino candidates, think flyover country are boobs.
Every above loser makes out, we the loyal conservative electorite gets screwed!!!!
Danielvito on November 27, 2012 at 12:35 PM
Mitt couldn’t sew it up because nobody liked him in the primaries except the hardcore mittbots. People were searching for the not Mitt (ABR) candidate that could win. Mitt had to destroy every candidate and drive up their negatives until he looked good next to them. This depressed voter turnout in the primaries and in the general. Mitt’s primary victory and nomination was what is referred to as a “Pyrrhic victory” and the results of said victory were the seeds of his defeat in the general because instead of healing the party and smoking the peace pipe with a large section of the party he decided to try to create a new base and shun those that could have given him a second victory in the general. the fault of this loss is all Romney and was caused by his actions over the course of the last 6 years.
unseen on November 27, 2012 at 12:38 PM
hence the massive donor payoff bill working its way through Dc as we speak refered to the “fiscal cliff bill” the donors will get thier money back plus a large taxpayer funded return on investment. No the big players didn’t get played the taxpayer and avg voter got played like they do every election in at least the last 20 years. DC is a nest of crimnals pretending to be politicians. they need to burn down K-street and salt the earth so nothing grows there for 100 years.
unseen on November 27, 2012 at 12:41 PM
IOW, Community organizers > Country club organizers
faraway on November 27, 2012 at 12:44 PM
nice summation
unseen on November 27, 2012 at 12:44 PM
Maybe Mitt could buy ACORN
faraway on November 27, 2012 at 12:48 PM
You try to convince yourself of that. I’ll stick with winning as a end result.
kim roy on November 27, 2012 at 12:49 PM
Hi unseen. Nice to see you in these parts again. You going to stay for a while?
kim roy on November 27, 2012 at 12:50 PM
Well done. Nothing to disagree with except to say this viewer has moved on from FOX. Going to stick with internet browsing/blogs to get my info.
Oh, and like victor82 said he gave to SarahPAC, maybe it’s time we gave directly to candidates rather than groups or only groups we’re confident with.
kim roy on November 27, 2012 at 12:54 PM
And, when it came time to do the same to Obama, he lost his nerve, nice guy, in over his head, etc. Then, after he had one good debate, he backed off that strategy, too. It’s almost as if the political class plays a BIG game every four years and we keep buying the tickets. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter as long as we hand over the money.
I do believe this was my last election as a Republican.
Fallon on November 27, 2012 at 1:00 PM
Palinstas will never forget eriksons psychotic night long rambling, about whether she would enter the race or not.
the man is certifiable.
renalin on November 27, 2012 at 1:03 PM
I don’t know, don’t have the time I use to have nor the interest. the GOpe and dems have morphed into the same freedom destroying party. I can’t really defend the GOp nor have any like for the dems but I typically catch the headlines and blog posts at hotair and if I see something that graps my interest I’ll comment on a topic for a bit time premitting.
unseen on November 27, 2012 at 1:04 PM
I’ve been a Fox News viewer since they first arrived in my market in the late 90′s. Now the only show I watch is Stossel’s on FBN. FNC makes me sick! With the election over, yesterday I DVR’d Cavuto’s show again for the first time in months and watched that one episode but I still haven’t decided if I’m going to continue. Fox News’ constant spewing of Romney propaganda, ignoring his contradictory record, was sickening! If Cavuto keeps interviewing Bush/Romney establishment types predominantly and discusses their BS propaganda as though it were real, ignoring their actual records and the fact that they’re the very same losers who effed up America, I will delete Cavuto’s DVR timer and that will be that.
I get all of my news on the Internet now.
FloatingRock on November 27, 2012 at 1:05 PM
Obviously the concept of sarcastic criticism escapes you.
Read it again.
NeoKong on November 27, 2012 at 1:07 PM
yeap I’ll keep my republican card just to be able to vote in the primaries but I no longer consider myself a republician. The party that Reagan built is over. the GOPe have thrown away every principle the party of Reagan stood for. Social issues gone, strong military gone, federalism gone, now no new taxes gone. why in all that’s holy would anyone support the GOP party? Oh yeah they aren’t as bad as the dems. At this point I don’t care let the dems get the blame for the coming firestorm of economic issues and lower standard of living lower longevity also once obamacare fully kicks in.
Btw as far as your first point I truly believe Mitt didn’t attack Obama because he believed in almost every program Obama has proposed. He just thought he could implement and manage them better. When you are in agreement with almost 80-90% of your opposition’s programs ther eisn’t many ways to attack him. Now as far as attackign conservatives. that was easy for Mitt and his team because there was 80% of stuff they didn’t agree on. Large amount of ammo there for the Mitt team to attack on in their view
.
unseen on November 27, 2012 at 1:11 PM
unseen on November 27, 2012 at 12:44 PM
kim roy on November 27, 2012 at 12:54 PM
FloatingRock on November 27, 2012 at 1:05 PM
You guys whose views I value are the ones that still give me hope in our company.
Danielvito on November 27, 2012 at 1:14 PM
welcome to the club gave up on fox news right after the 2008 elections as I watched what they were trying to do to Palin in real time to promote Romney and that wa s 4 years ago.
unseen on November 27, 2012 at 1:14 PM
Relied too much on everything which needed to be perfect, like…for the first time in history: polling data, JAWS or ORCA or whatever, fair media coverage, honest campaign advisers, the freakin’ weather.
Yeah, a (powerful)candidate needs to be able to transcend an imperfect campaign.
Dongemaharu on November 27, 2012 at 1:15 PM
+1, although fiscal cliff bill will only be a down payment.
FloatingRock on November 27, 2012 at 1:19 PM
Fair enough. It really did go t!ts up this time. Hope life is treating you well and the time you don’t have is well spent!
Will keep an eye out for you regardless.
kim roy on November 27, 2012 at 1:21 PM
I’m sorry if I missed it; however, considering all the posts that have been remarkably similar AND quite serious I’ll say it was an easy mistake to make.
My apologies.
kim roy on November 27, 2012 at 1:24 PM
Any difference between the dems and GOP is slowly shrinking and eventually they’ll just be two sides of the coin.
I took Romney’s nonfight of Obama to be some kind of strategy. How do you outfight a street fighter when all you can do is fence?
kim roy on November 27, 2012 at 1:27 PM
Many pundits said many idiotic things this election season. Erickson was one of the few who kept getting it right.
Citizen-003528 on November 27, 2012 at 1:28 PM
Romney made plenty of self-inflicted errors along the way but you can’t deny that a few individual big dollar doners extended the primaries and hurt Romney’s national campaign. Romeny was not my candidate but the bitter primaries went on long after it was apparent he was the only guy who could win.
lexhamfox on November 27, 2012 at 1:47 PM
Erickson is a tool. Sometimes tools still come up with the right answer. We need to be far, far more technologcally savvy and stop the crony capitalism, including the part where you give politically-donated money to your “consultant” friends to run your campaign. the GOP in general is way too clubby and needs to work at being more inclusive. I don’t mean changes in policy, I mean outreach and giving the unknown little guy a shot as a service provider.
alwaysfiredup on November 27, 2012 at 1:55 PM
The bitter primaries did not hurt Romney, except insofar as they revealed that Romney was more willing to use hardball tactics on conservatives than on Obama. that’s his problem.
alwaysfiredup on November 27, 2012 at 2:14 PM
If Romney were conservative, those donors would have given him the money.
astonerii on November 27, 2012 at 4:42 PM