Target Point

In the final week before the election, Democrats pushing to convert their lead in the polls into control of Congress are pinning their hopes of success on an increasingly common tactic for pumping up voter turnout: microtargeting.
 
The technique aims to identify potential supporters by collecting and analyzing the unprecedented amount of information now readily available -- from census data to credit-card bills -- to profile individual voters. Political strategists then tailor messages to entice those prospects to the polls, using the same methods marketers use to sell autos or aspirin to consumers.
 
In this tight election year, microtargeting could make the difference in important House and Senate races in states such as Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Alexander Gage, president and founder of TargetPoint Consulting, an Alexandria, Va., microtargeting firm that works for the Republican Party, estimates that successful microtargeting can bring congressional campaigns an additional 5,000 to 10,000 votes, a number that could be decisive in a House race.  "Politics is always won and lost at the margins," he says.