The Democrats and the Obama election campaign have "seen the light". The high-Tech secret weapon of elections of the future isn't blogging or viral e-mail or any other sexy buzzwords. It's something mundane and under the radar and totally boring…Its voter data.

Both the Democrats and the Republicans have amassed vast secret databases of information about voters, which they jealously guard on the simple theory that the more you know about people, the easier it is to get their vote.

The Republicans began building their database, which they call Voter Vault, back in the mid-1990s. It's no accident they got a head start: Bush adviser Karl Rove used to run a direct-mail company, so he knows the value of a few good leads.

By 2001, the Democrats…the party of would-be nerd Al Gore…were staring at a data gap. All they had was a few tens of thousands of e-mail addresses stored on a computer that was so obsolete its monitor was green. So they hired a small firm to build them a database of their very own, which they named DemzilIa. Voter Vault and Demzilla currently hold about 165 million entries each.

So what's in these things? Any information about the voter that the parties can legally get their hands on. They start with voter-registration records, which are rich in priceless personal data like phone numbers, home addresses and birthdays and voting history. That info gets cross-referenced with census data plus records the parties keep like…who worked or volunteered for them and who donated money.

Undecided black housewives under 35 will get a very different phone call or piece of campaign mail from a National candidate’s campaign than an Hispanic CEOs over 60. Data mining also helps the parties find, and sway, those all-important swing voters.

Now, Voterdata.com is offering data mining to candidates in local races and to organizations seeking to pass or defeat local issues that are on the ballot. We have amassed an extensive database of voter information over the past 10 years that encompasses over 380,000 registered voters in 45 cities of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. The voter data supports local elections for city council, mayor, school board, community college trustee, supervisory districts and school bond issues.

We have coupled voter data with the services of one of the Inland Empire’s most accomplished print and mail houses, Printing Resources, allowing us to offer a turnkey voter outreach service to local candidates or organizations.

We have provided a guide to this website to help you as you consider how this powerful and very cost effective tool can support your next election effort.