Software is Not a Solution

Peter Weir has a piece in Townhall where he basically argues the Republican’s problems comes down to software and giving money to party committees:

In an interview, joined by the Philadelphia Bulletin, Santorum responded to our analysis that had interactive software such as Republican All in One™ been available in 2006, Santorum would not have lost by 708,000 votes. Instead he would be reelected by 344,000 votes had, all things being equal, the four traditionally Republican suburban Philadelphia counties maintained a GOP turnout equal to the balance of Pennsylvania, instead of plummeting in half to 47% (while Democratic turnout shot up to 90%). The Blogosphere’s criticism, analogous to the recent Jim Oberweis loss in Illinois’ 14th Congressional election “quality of the candidate” response, begs the question. Even assuming the burdensome 2006 albatross, there is still be a 50-60% chance a registered Republican votes Republican. However, if he does not show up at the polls, the chance of voting Republican is 0%. Which odds do you prefer, 50% or 0%?

Of course, Republicans had a finely tuned Get Out the Vote operation in 2006 that was expected to forever guarantee a Republican Majority. However, Get out the Vote software cannot compel people to vote and cannot compel people to volunteer. If there’s no enthusiasm, software can’t save you no matter how good.

Don’t get me wrong. Software can help you do the job better no matter how lackluster the turnout, you’ll improve your odds by using the right tools. However, software is not panacea.