Mitt is burning dollars

Tis the season when people who organize in electoral campaigns turn our thoughts to data files. Data files -- voter files -- are the lists of all of you -- the people who are registered to vote and whose ballots will decide the fate of our candidates and propositions.

We are fascinated by you, eager to have access to every possible piece of information about you -- your age, your ethnicity, your voting history, your party affiliation if any, even who your friends are, your income level. (Yes various date vendors can give us some approximation of this information. It is not always accurate, but neither is your credit score unless you monitor it.) We will spend a lot of money to get the best, most accurate list that tells us who you are. And then we'll tailor and aim our pitches at those of you most likely to be responsive to what we are saying.



Something's wrong with Mitt's lists. This mail fundraising solicitation should never have been sent to me: an older registered Democrat who has lived with another woman for over 30 years in San Francisco. The possibility that I'm a Romney supporter is just vanishingly small. The last time I gave a donation to a Republican when Lowell Weicker was challenged by "Democrat" Joe Lieberman in 1988. (My instincts were right in that one.) I'm a politically consistent voter -- there is zero chance I'm supporting Mitt. And they should know it and screen me out of their direct mail package.

Let's hope they go on wasting money on people like me!