Political consultancy that compiles voter-information database for progressive get-out-the-vote organizations
Founded by Democrat operative Harold Ickes
Has received funding from billionaire financier George Soros
Catalist is a for-profit political consultancy that seeks "to help progressive organizations realize measurable increases in civic participation and electoral success by building and operating a robust national voter database of every voting-age American."
Specifically, Catalist employs the technique of "microtargeting" or "narrowcasting." This refers to the identification of a wide range of specific voter characteristics and viewpoints which, when assessed as a whole, can offer insight into which political issues are of greatest concern to potential voters from various demographics, and thus which candidate or party those voters would most likely support in a given election if they could be properly motivated to go to the polls. Armed with this information, leftist organizations conducting get-out-the-vote drives can use targeted phone calls, e-mails, and television commercials to urge these individuals to vote on election day.
Michael Podhorzer, Deputy Political Director of the AFL-CIO, has said: "Catalist is an essential part of the foundation necessary for building progressive political power in our country. The labor movement relies on the state of the art political technology services provided by Catalist and we are proud to be an early subscriber."
Reasoning from the premise that the United States is a nation rife with racism and injustice, Catalist notes its commitment "to using [its] talents and technology to nurture a vibrant, growing, progressive community, and to working with that community towards a more just, equitable and tolerant America."
Catalist offers three separate data-subscription services: "Basic," "Plus," and "Premium" -- the latter of which includes "large scale access to data, data storage, outreach tools, analytics, and support."
According to Catalist's Chief Technology Officer, Vijay Ravindran, by the 2006 elections his organization had compiled a database on 150 million Americans. The information therein had been used in get-out-the-vote campaigns in 26 states, ultimately influencing approximately 60 million voters. Ravindran specifically noted Catalist's success in Missouri, where a group called Women's Voices, Women Vote -- which attempts to involve unmarried women in the electoral process -- used data provided by Catalist to target potential supporters of Democrat Senatorial candidate Claire McCaskill, who ultimately defeated Republican Jim Talent. Ravindran also reported that the Sierra Club had used Catalist's data on 310,000 infrequent voters with an interest in environmental issues to influence 33 political races across the United States.
Catalist (originally called Data Warehouse) was founded by former deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, Harold Ickes, who continues to serve as the organization's President. Ickes established Catalist in April 2006 as a way to help the progressive cause by furnishing leftwing activists with accurate, up-to-date information. He had little regard for Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean's competency in targeting potential voters by means of technology. Complaining that the DNC's out-of-date voter information was "worse than having no database at all, Ickes said, "it's unclear what the DNC is doing." Many current Catalist staffers previously served as data managers for the DNC.
Catalist's 2006 budget was in the range of $9-10 million, and the consultancy was granted substantial seed money by billionaire financier George Soros.
Some notable members of Catalist's Board of Managers include Patricia Bauman, President and Co-Director of the Bauman Family Foundation; Juan Marcos Vilar, Political Director of the Service Employees International Union; Laura Quinn, who served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications to former Vice President Al Gore; and the aforementioned Michael Podhorzer, who formerly served as Associate Director of Citizen Action (and who designed and managed the AFL-CIO's 2004 "swing voter program" which "combined voter file database analytics and clinical trial-style message testing for direct mail, telemarketing, email and neighborhood canvassing").
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