Briefs

MotherJones.com, By Kari Lundgren, September 9, 2004.

Both parties are aggressively applying the techniques of database marketing to electoral politics -- whether people like it or not.

You know the candidates. And they know a lot more about you than you might expect. This year, the Democratic and Republican parties, together with outside groups, are digging through voter rolls, census records, and consumer data for every possible scrap of information on American voters. The goal is simple: find out what people are like �- especially what they care about -- and pitch them your candidate accordingly. If it sounds like commercial marketing, that�s because, for better or worse, it is like commercial marketing.

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