Minn. GOP Asks Activists to Report on Neighbors' Politics [View All]

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Minn. GOP Asks Activists to Report on Neighbors' Politics
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A58309-2004Jul17?language=printer
By Brian Faler
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, July 18, 2004; Page A05


All politics is local. But this year, it is getting downright neighborly.

Take Minnesota. The state Republican Party has developed a Web site that allows its activists to tap into a database of voters whose political allegiances and concerns it would like to know. But it is not just any group of voters -- they are the activists' neighbors.

The project, dubbed WebVoter, gives GOP activists the names and addresses of 25 people who live, in most cases, within a couple of blocks from them. The party has asked 60,000 supporters from across the state to figure out what issues animate their neighbors and where they stand in the political spectrum, and report that information back to the party -- with or, possibly, without their neighbors' permission.

Those who seem persuadable will receive campaign literature from Republican candidates -- including President Bush -- with whom the party plans to share its data. Those deemed incorrigible Democrats will be struck from the list.