Now that Obama has claimed the Democratic nomination and made a commitment to run a nationwide campaign, aides are hard at work compiling the kinds of voter lists that will help them succeed. The Democratic National Committee has turned over its voter file. And:
Mr. Obama’s aides were also considering buying another huge list with information on 230 million Americans. The list is owned by Catalist, a private concern co-founded by a longtime Democratic operative, Harold M. Ickes.
In an interview, Mr. Ickes said that Mr. Obama’s campaign aides are particularly interested in new information his company has gathered about cable television viewing habits.
Cable television would allow the campaign to target individual demographics:
Obama campaign officials said that is because they are considering a specially tailored commercial campaign on niche cable networks that can give Mr. Obama special access to groups his campaign considers crucial for victory, like MTV, with its young audience, or BET, with an African-American viewership.
“It’s a great opportunity to get people information that may be particularly germane to them,” David Axelrod, the campaign’s chief strategist said of the specialty cable commercials, first perfected by Mr. Bush in 2004.
Youth vote advocates have actually long championed more advertising on cable channels frequented by young people like MTV. And if the Obama campaign is really planning a fifty-state campaign, finding ways to reach young people will be key.
