How an Eric Schmidt-Backed Startup May Help Clinton Get Elected

After the 2012 election, when Mitt Romney’s vaunted, custom-built Orca get-out-the-vote system failed on Election Day, Republicans publicly promised that they’d close the technology gap with Democrats by 2016. Instead, the party has a candidate who doesn’t seem to think much of the data analytics operation pioneered by President Barack Obama. “I’ve always felt it was overrated,” Donald Trump told the Associated Press on May 10. “Obama got the votes much more so than his data processing machine. And I think the same is true with me.”

Hillary Clinton, by contrast, is doubling down on data. Earlier this month the campaign advertised three dozen analytics, digital, and engineering openings, including one for an e-mail writer. The listing specifies that an applicant should have experience using mass distribution programs and be familiar with A/B testing and optimization of subject lines and content: “E-mail is the digital heart of the Clinton campaign.”