E-Mail Lists are Power

The Republicans and Democrats have different ideas when it comes to their permission-based e-mail lists according to this article.

In the 2004 election, every person that signed up for George W. Bush e-mails was automatically given to the RNC. From there, the RNC could provide state parties with e-mail lists for volunteer drives, local party functions, and candidate recruitment.

The GOP model serves in stark contrast to the approach from the Democratic campaigns of John Kerry and Howard Dean. Every person that signed up for e-mails from Howard Dean were owned by Howard Dean. When John Kerry became the eventual nominee, Howard Dean refused to give his list to Kerry. Many in the Kerry campaign were disappointed. But they need not be. When the 2004 election ended, all of the e-mails belonging to John Kerry were kept by John Kerry.

The GOP wrote their privacy policy to allow the transfer of e-mails, while the Kerry campaign did not. Instead, the DNC would have to buy the Kerry list according to FEC regulations. How much is Kerry's e-mail list worth? Only about $122 million, experts say.

When Howard Dean ran for DNC chair, activists were excited that Dean could tap into his large e-mail database for donors and activists. And in fact, he could. Because Dean wrote his privacy policy in such a way that allowed him to bring his list to the DNC.

It's amazing that a simple thing like a privacy policy could prevent the political parties from accessing a campaign list. For a long time, the GOP has relied on sharing information and technology consultants. Many GOP web designers work for similar clients, according to my GOP friends. Democrats are not as coordinated, and their operations suffer for it. The Kerry e-mail fiasco is a prime example. If Democrats hope to compete in the future, they will need to do a better job of collaborating between the national, state, and local party operations. And this includes e-mail lists and privacy policies.