Democrats Scrambling To Organize Voter Turnout

A GOP strategist involved in the effort said the RNC did a post-election review of every person it contacted, looking at how many times they were reached, which issues were discussed and whether they voted. This information was supplied to about 30 targeted states earlier this year, and RNC officials track the states to see whether they are reaching goals for adding new names and contacting old ones.

Both parties credit this program with putting President Bush over the top in Ohio in 2004 by exceeding GOP turnout projections in key areas. "I think the best 21st-century turnout operation was Bush-Cheney '04," said Thomas M. Reynolds (N.Y.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. But the political landscape has changed dramatically. Conservatives are less enthused about GOP lawmakers, polls show, and therefore may be less likely to vote in high numbers.

Democrats said the June special election in California's 50th District signaled that it will take more than a favorable political environment to tip House races. In the special election to replace Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who resigned after admitting he took millions of dollars in bribes, Democrats were unable to increase turnout and lost the race.

Compounding concerns, liberal donors such as financier George Soros, who helped fund a $100 million get-out-the-vote program in 2004, have soured on what they regard as short-term fixes offered by party leaders, several major donors said. The $100 million drive was operated by America Coming Together and was aimed at identifying and getting voters to the polls. ACT helped increase turnout significantly in key states, including Ohio, but donors thought most of their money was wasted because the Bush-Cheney operation did better.

This year, Democrats are relying on outside groups such as the AFL-CIO, which has budgeted $40 million for turnout efforts, and America Votes, an independent group that blossomed in 2004. Other special-interest groups representing labor, abortion rights, minority groups and other factions inside the Democratic Party are also working on turning out their own members.

At the same time, a cottage industry of voter-targeting specialists is taking root. Ken Strasma of Strategic Telemetry, for instance, is using voter, marketing and demographic data to identify new voters for 25 House and Senate candidates. "I think we have definitely caught up with, if not exceeded, Republicans in terms of technology, but getting it implemented and into the field, that's another question," he said. Strasma -- like the Service Employees International Union, MoveOn.org and others -- draws much of his voter information from Data Warehouse, a company run by Democratic operatives Harold Ickes and Laura Quinn.

In another independent effort to improve Democrats' performance, Washington real estate developer Herb Miller and other businessmen are creating an organization to study voter values, in part through using marketing techniques. The effort will share the information with party leaders this fall, said Clinton administration official Joshua Gotbaum, who will run it.

Several Democratic lawmakers and strategists said the current overall approach is flawed because it is difficult to get groups to share information and divide assignments so that all of the key House and Senate races are covered.