The GOP’s ‘Jack Bauer rule’

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) didn’t take any chances in the midterm elections, reportedly sending out volunteers to test campaigns and verify the information coming from the field.

The campaign committee deployed volunteers to individual campaigns to measure the quality of the state operations, according to Yahoo News.

{mosads}Meanwhile, the NRSC’s digital team followed what they called the “Jack Bauer rule” that specified campaigns should respond to their requests within 24 hours. When a campaign missed the deadline, they were contacted by the NRSC to discuss the matter.

The group also tested the data coming in from the campaign’s pollsters. An NRSC digital aide told Yahoo that the group hired “multiple pollsters in every state” to determine whether the polling generated by campaigns was reliable.

“Nothing personal against any firm, but after 2012, we wanted more information, not less,” the aide told Yahoo.

Indeed, the midterm election victories come after several years of polling missteps for Republicans. In 2012, Mitt Romney’s campaign team relied on internal polling that wrongly indicated they were leading or competitive in several swing states.

Earlier this year, then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) was stunned, when he was defeated by a primary challenger. His internal polls had suggested he held a sizable lead.

Republicans also focused more broadly this year on creating a campaign machine that could compete with a Democratic operation that outpaced them in 2012. Before the election, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said the party had to “test whether or not we’re becoming a more competent national party.”

That included improve their digital outreach and data collection efforts. In 2012, the NRSC had only two digital staffers, according to Yahoo. This year, they had around 20.