POLITICS: Analytic opportunity

Earlier this year I was invited to join several prominent Idaho conservatives at a local seminar sponsored by Market Research Foundation (MRF). MRF is a nationally recognized organization specializing in predictive analytics, list building and targeted messaging. The group’s annual gatherings have drawn top data scientists, pollsters, corporate technology executives, political CIOs, grassroots activists, elected officials and opinion leaders from across the nation.

Thanks to MRF, I learned how to build the tools our candidates need. I’ve also learned there are thousands of liberty-minded grassroots partisans like me across the country. We can work together to produce data better than anything handed down to us.

For data to produce consistent returns in politics it cannot flow from the top down. Those of us on the ground should be controlling the development and deployment of these essential assets. Data must flow horizontally — with grassroots activists sharing new targets, methods and surveys over synced networks.

In Idaho, we are taking a vital first step in creating such a grassroots driven model. Thanks to MRF we can model new universes, hone our message and delivery methods to these audiences and measure the success and failure of our effort.

Most importantly, we’ve learned to share our knowledge with each other. This sort of data “cross-pollination” at the grassroots level is essential to producing winning results.

If you would like to be part of this exciting effort, contact me at: bjornforidaho@gmail.com

BJORN HANDEEN

Coeur d’Alene