WNY native blamed for failed get-out-the-vote app that some tie to Romney’s loss

[Godhumor]

Source: Buffalo news

WASHINGTON – To hear Mitt Romney’s supporters tell it, “Project ORCA,” billed as a one-of-a-kind Web app aimed at targeting voters in the swing states to make sure they voted, would take a big bite out of President Obama’s chances for re-election.

“There’s nothing that the Obama data team, there’s nothing that the Obama campaign, there’s nothing that President Obama himself can do to even come close to what we are putting together here,” Dan Centinello, a 28-year-old Lancaster native and deputy political director for the Romney campaign, told volunteers on a training call in late October, according to the Huffington Post.

...

Struggling to cope with thousands of Romney volunteers trying to use the program to identify voters and get them to the polls, the system crashed, leaving Romney headquarters in Boston unable to keep track of its own “ground game.”

Two weeks later, many on the political right say Project Orca’s failure was a key factor in Romney’s loss – and some are blaming Centinello for it all.


Read more: http://buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121121/CITYANDREGION/121129878/1002

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Interesting look at how badly the Romney campaign handled its election day "ground game".

[randr]

1. Everything is to blame except for his failure to

provide adequate solutions and appear as a human being.
He lost because voters rejected him, period.

[caraher]

4. True

But it's telling that Romney, with his vast executive experience, couldn't hire a team with the basic competence to develop a robust plan for election day. Any "moderates" who voted Romney thinking they were at least getting a competent technocrat should be breathing sighs of relief that he didn't win, in light of this.

[randr]

21. Absolutely

His skills as a manager were more than evident. He couldn't even keep track of his own positions.

[tridim]

2. Always bet on a single point of failure, GOP. Idiots.

[Brickbat]

3. Pssst, Republicans! You want to win elections?

Run someone who appeals to the voters on his or her own values, merits and personality, instead of relying on a run-of-the-mill app you're all pretending to understand.

[fasttense]

5. ORCA was hacked by anonymous.

Maybe they shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket. Maybe they should have run a candidate that had a chance of winning. Maybe they should NOT have alienated every minority and woman voter. Just maybe.....

[OKNancy]

7. no proof whatsoever - orca failed on it's own

and Obama won because of a superior campaign and a superior candidate.. not some nutty conspiracy theory

[Botany]

6. We stopped them from using that APP @ the poll I was working in Ohio

dumb asses did not know the law ..... you are not allowed to
scan and transmit data from polling "data" that has been posted inside
a precinct.

[John2]

8. So

are they claiming Romney's voters ( mostly white) were unlikely to vote and they didn't get them to the Polls? This does not solve their problem with Demographics. Romney loss because he was only trying to win by appealing to one Demographic in the United States. You can no longer win an election in the United States like that because of the changing population. The Republicans can continue to be delusional if they want. They are looking for every excuse except the obvious one. And the problem will get worse every election cycle. They will have to throw out the Southern Strategy and start appealing to more people. The former Republican Senator that just died, even fore saw the Republicans problem. The Dixiecrats mantra ( States' Rights) ruined the Republican Party. The last five out of six elections should tell them something.

[Rozlee]

11. If it wasn't for the gerrymandering in dozens of states

there would be no Republican majority in congress right now. Redistricting is the only thing that's kept them in power this long. Here in Texas, they've stacked the state lege with Republicans this way. But, like you said, demographics are changing. They can keep their fingers plugging the holes in the dike, but not notice that the water over it has risen and will flood and sweep them away.

[groundloop]

9. IMO they don't understand what "GET OUT THE VOTE" means

OK, let's go to the far far reaches of fantasy-land and presume I'm a run of the mill republican voter. I've decided I'm not too enthusiastic about rMoney, and to hell with voting this year. So, they've got some fancy smancy app on their iphone or whatever that tells some poll worker I haven't voted yet. Is a phone call while I'm sitting down eating dinner going to get me off my sofa and to the polling place so I can stand in line and vote for a candidate I'm not really enthusiastic about? I DON'T THINK SO.

They're barking up the wrong tree blaming their failure on this failed app.

[LTR]

13. And there lies the root of the problem

Hounding people to hurry up and get to the polls before closing sounds like a questionable idea at best. If anything, it will just piss people off more, and make them worry about Big Brother and whatnot.

They're overthinking this stuff. Best thing to do is to run a likeable candidate, and build up support with a good ground game. Hey, it worked for Obama.

[aandegoons]

10. Didn't most republicans lose elections this year?

Seems like a failed correlation to me.

[yardwork]

12. Maybe he's a patsy.

“Either this whole thing was a farce, or they didn’t know what they were doing,” said a Romney volunteer from North Carolina who never got her packet and who asked not to be identified by name.

Maybe it was a farce.

[geek tragedy]

14. Orca is a symbol of their incompetence, but also a convenient excuse

Strike lists don't move massive numbers of votes. They make a difference in very close elections but that's about it.

[EC]

15. Well, maybe if they had some "COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS"

to put the program into action at the local levels instead of just thinking that talking about the program would work, it may have helped. Just like motivational speakers, they think that's all that's needed...it should just work with no effort...just know about the program and it's reality, it'll work magic all by itself.

[xfundy]

16. No!

They lost because they weren't cancervative enough.

[Evasporque]

17. Republicans must punish someone....rather than take the blame for being out of touch.....nt

[AAO]

18. Good thing we got Centinello to infiltrate the Romney campaign!

I guess we can talk about Project X now that it's all over.

[PossumSqueezins]

19. Between this and all of the Black Panthers at the polls...

It's amazing they got any votes at all.

<img src=>

[LaPera]

20. A person with a simple iPhone could of done a better job than the village idiot Centinello!