Hi-tech battle for Britain
Tom Baldwin in London

APRIL 07, 2005

LABOUR and the Tories are spending millions of pounds on a hidden 
hi-tech campaign to win over the 800,000 key voters in marginal 
seats who will settle Britain's general election, to be held on May 5.

Both parties believe the poll will be won or lost by a ground-level
battle fought away from the television cameras and have been making
efforts to identify and contact a relatively small proportion of the
electorate.

Conservative Party leader Michael Howard has told friends in recent
weeks that the "people who matter" may number just 838,000 - fewer
than 2 per cent of voters. If they can be persuaded to switch from
Labour in 165 marginals, he says, the Tories would win an overall
majority.

Mr Howard and Prime Minister Tony Blair were to clash in the House 
of Commons last night for a last pre-election joust during Prime
Minister's questions. The pair are not expected to face each other
again before May 5.

Labour is spending about two-thirds of its [UKP]15 million ($37 million)
campaign budget on this "ground war", rather than on billboard and
newspaper advertisements. 

Its national communications centre in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne,
has made 2.2 million canvassing calls in the past year. It has also
posted 7 million items of mail to households since the northern
autumn, at a rate of 1.5 million a month.

The Conservatives' call centre in Coleshill, near Coventry, has been
bombarding the same voters. Though the Tories are sensitive about
releasing details, they disclosed yesterday that they would send out 3
million mailshots in the next three days, as well as calling 300,000
homes with a recorded message from Mr Howard saying "how important
your vote is to the future of this country".

Both Labour and the Conservatives are using expensive "data-capture"
computer programs to collate personal information including postcodes,
reading habits and shopping habits. The Tories say that their Voter
Vault system can predict an individual's propensity to vote and
support them correctly 70 per cent of the time.

Mr Howard's decision to concentrate on a few thousand voters in each
target seat reflects the success of US Republicans last year in using
similar software to win over key voters in swing states such as
Florida and Ohio.

Labour has gone further in harnessing new technology for a campaign
that will attempt to bypass a hostile Westminster media through direct
contact with voters. There will be fewer press conferences and no
election media battlebus.

About 5000 voters in each of 60 key marginals have been sent a DVD of
messages from their Labour candidate and the Prime Minister, with a
discussion of local issues.

After his announcement on Tuesday of the election date, Mr Blair sent
an email to 100,000 people, saying: "If you have been keeping up with
the news, you may already know that I went to the palace a few minutes
ago to ask the Queen to dissolve parliament.

"I wanted to get this message out to you straight away about what's 
at stake at the election and how you can help. This will be a tough
campaign and we will have to fight for every seat and every vote."

Mr Blair has promised to respond personally to emailed questions, and
a handful of people will be selected for "five minutes with Tony" in
which the Prime Minister will "spontaneously call or visit them at
their home to have a chat about the issues they have raised".

The Times, Reuters

The Australian 

                             -==-

Source: "Australian IT" ...

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/
0,7204,12775188%5E15322%5E%5Enbv%5E15306,00.html


Cheers, Steve..

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