Republican National Committee

MEMORANDUM

TO: Chairman Ken Mehlman

Interested Parties

FROM: Mike DuHaime

RE: Rhode Island Republican Senate Primary

DATE: September 13, 2006

Summary

The Republican National Committee along with Senator Elizabeth Dole and the National Republican Senatorial Committee helped set a record voter turnout in Rhode Island’s Republican Primary by combining the latest technology and targeting with a large-scale grassroots effort, which resulted in Senator Lincoln Chafee winning his re-nomination.  Understanding the complex nature of the race and the electorate, the RNC used the latest microtargeting techniques and worked with the Rhode Island GOP and the NRSC to create a unique turnout universe comprised of both Republicans with a history of primary voting, and unaffiliated voters who were far less inclined to vote in a GOP primary.

The RNC’s financial investment in upgrading phone bank reporting technology and Voter Vault allowed us to quickly identify focused groups of voters to target with paid or volunteer communications, while also giving us the ability to evaluate the remaining potential voters identified by microtargeting.  These upgrades allowed us to make informed decisions as to how we focused remaining resources within the overall GOTV universe.

The GOTV effort in Rhode Island helped turn out Republican voters who ultimately identified with Senator Chafee’s message and his campaign’s focus on local issues.

Successful Turnout Efforts

• A record number of voters were turned out to the polls by our GOTV effort.
• Voter turnout in the 2006 GOP primary was 62,099, besting the previous Rhode Island record by 38% (previous high: 45,023 in 1994).
• Voter turnout in the 2006 GOP primary was nearly 2½ times greater than the 2002 GOP primary that included a contested governor’s race.
• The RNC deployed 86 volunteers to work the GOTV program over the final 11 days.
• Volunteer GOTV efforts made the difference
• 198,921 volunteer voter contacts were attempted over the final 11 days of the campaign (190,350 phone call attempts, 8,571 door knock attempts).
• A sustained rate of contact was achieved to the various pieces of the GOTV universe, with higher priority given to the known supporters who were less likely to vote.
• The RNC’s GOTV operation is capable of increasing its voter contact capacity at a rapid pace
• RI’s volunteer voter contact attempts, January – August, 31st: 152,935
• RI’s volunteer voter contact attempts, September 1st – 12th: 198,921

Chafee’s Convincing Victory

• Chafee won 25 of 39 towns, including 10 of the largest 12 towns in the state.
• Chafee won the battle of the bases.
• Chafee won 62.2% in Warwick, versus Laffey’s 52.7% in Cranston.
• Despite turnout being nearly identical, Chafee posted an overwhelming winning margin of 2,054 in Warwick and limited his losses to only 463 in Cranston.

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