Rove, British elections, and a question.

[deminks]

I have been trying to keep an eye on the upcoming British elections, and Rove's involvement. I just found it interesting that our new deputy chief of staff is involved in foreign elections. I ran across this article and snip:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/16469381?source=Evening%20Standard

(snip)
Conservative party chiefs have invested in a computer system called Voter Vault, developed by Republicans in the US and hailed as a secret weapon in George Bush's re-election campaign.
(snip)


Question, what is "voter vault" and what is in it? I haven't seen it mentioned much here before.

[AlwaysDemocrat]

1. Article about "Voter Vault"

I hadn't heard of it either -
Here is an article from PCWorld.com

"GOP Voter Vault Shipped Overseas"

"Massive database holds info on millions of voters, and is used to get people to the polls.
PC World has recently learned that the major development work on
the Voter Vault was done in India. Though the RNC began work on a national database of voters in the mid-1990s, the Voter Vault wasn't ready to be put into the field until the 2002 elections. Two years prior to the 2002 elections, the RNC hired Advanced Custom Software (ACS) of Seattle to build a Web-based database to help campaign workers target likely Republican voters. According to information posted on Elance.com, an online directory of outsourcing firms, ACS subcontracted development of the database to Compulink Systems of Maharashtra, India."

Here's the link:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117930,00.asp

From scanning this and the previous article it sounds like a "data mining" application. Interesting...

[deminks]

4. Thanks for the link.

I just wonder what kind of data is being mined.

[AlwaysDemocrat]

6. Lots of data...

The financial information caught my eye. From the article from "This is London" in first post:
--- snip ---
"First, we take the basic information - people's names, addresses and post codes," he explains. "Over that, we lay a lot of factors like people's voting intentions and voting history, their membership history, their telephone numbers and their views on selected issues.

"Then, on top of that we add information from Experian, information on the income of the household for instance and about the people in it."

Experian is a company which harvests data from the electoral roll, shareholders' registers, court judgments, supermarket loyalty cards, magazine subscriptions and credit checks."

Editted to add another link - sounds like the Dems have a database too:
http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/benson061003.html

"`Demzilla' and `Voter Vault' Are Watching You"
You have two new big brothers and both are watching
you closely.

The Democratic National Committee boasts electronic files on 158
million Americans. The Republican National Committee says it's way
ahead, with files on 165 million.
--- snip---

[deminks]

7. Scary.

This one caught my eye, too, from the This is London article just because it is so vague.

(snip)

The company also has software called Mosaic, which produces reports on the lifestyle and wealth of postcode areas.

(snip)

Lifestyle?

[jimfromthebronx10469]

2. i just want to mention

last month i heard tony blair's approval rating was near 30 % ...
to me that spells trouble for bush.this is not the time to lose tony so i feel bush and company are going to somehow pull another ohio/flordia.... just my thoughts..
:mad: :crazy: :dem: :hi: :thumbsup:

[deminks]

3. Actually it is very confusing

A Rovian trademark. Rove has been hired by the Tories to get them elected. Especially during the time right before the election this spring, unless there is something sooner. Here is the link to that:

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/news/tm_objectid=14920100&method=full&siteid=106694&headline=bush-guru-gets-world-s-worst-job-name_page.html

[Alizaryn]

5. They can rationalize there way out of a paper bag. I would

not put ANYTHING beyond them. Hopefully the British people and media will stay on top of this and learn from our mistakes/puishments.

[AndyTiedye]

8. I Don't Like The Sound of That At All

[cire4]

9. Time to root for Blair and Labour

Labour must be better if Rove and Bushco are working against them...