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September 12=2C 2008 at 11=3A25 PM EDT

The Conservative Party=27s campaign computers hold the most detailed ele=
ctoral data on Canadians ever assembled by a political party=2C the prod=
uct of highly sophisticated technology and a four-year mission to make p=
ersonal contact with every voter in the country=27s key contested riding=
s=2E

Political strategists say it is enabling the Tories to run the most micr=
o-targeted campaign the country has ever experienced=2C aimed at favoure=
d ethnic and cultural groups =96 Chinese=2C South Asians=2C Jews =96 eco=
nomically beleaguered =93battlers=94 and a broad spectrum of =93aspirati=
onal voters=94 wanting more material gains for themselves and their chil=
dren and feeling ripped off by the state=2C the elites and big business=2E=


The Conservatives have given fictional names to demographic segments in =
the electorate that they=27ve identified=2E

=93Zoey=94 is a central city inhabitant who eats organic food and is of =
no interest to them=3B ditto with =93Marcus and Fiona=2C=94 a high-incom=
e urban couple with no children and professional jobs=2E But =93Dougie=94=
 is a favourite=2C a tradesman in his 20s from a small town=2E And so is=
 =93Eunice=2C=94 70=2C a widow=2C and =93Steve =5Bwho owns his own busin=
ess=5D and Heather=94 in their 40s with three children living in the sub=
urbs=2E

The Conservatives have enlisted neighbourhood leaders =96 sports team co=
aches=2C community activists =96 to report information on voters to the =
party=27s data collectors and introduce potential supporters to party ca=
mpaigners=2C a technique known by its acronym of FRAN=3A Friends=2C Rela=
tives=2C Acquaintances and Neighbours=2E

The party spent time=2C money and effort to learn information such as th=
e number of children voters have (three and they=27ll be inclined to vot=
e Tory) and whether they graduated from university or college (community=
 college and they=27re more likely to be Tories)=2E

They have assembled their voter data through geo-demographic and psycho-=
demographic surveys=2C huge-sample polling and personal contacts made wi=
th voters through direct mail=2C e-mail=2C telephone calls and FRAN cont=
acts=2E

While other parties are using geo- and psycho-demographic surveys =96 th=
e Environics polling firm=2C for example=2C sells a program called Prism=
 that analyzes social values=2C consumer behaviour and other identifying=
 factors of people in 54=2C000 neighbourhoods in Canada =96 the cash-ric=
h Tories have created their own databanks powerfully enhanced by direct =
voter contact=2E

Insiders in both the Conservative and Liberal parties say the Conservati=
ves are far out ahead in knowing how to talk to voters=2C collect reveal=
ing information from them and deliver a targeted message=2E

Greg Lyle=2C of the polling firm Innovative Research Group Inc=2E=2C ide=
ntified three ways the Conservatives are breaking ground in the campaign=
 for the Oct=2E 14 election=3A

They are focusing not only on swing voters but on their own supporters w=
ho don=27t vote=2E

Nationally they have launched a targeted campaign aimed at personal vote=
r contact =93on a scale we=27ve never seen before=2E=94

As far as anyone knows=2C they are polling with bigger samplings than an=
yone else=2E

They have also lifted their campaign strategy holus-bolus from the peopl=
e who fashioned the four electoral victories of John Howard=27s right-wi=
ng Liberal government in Australia from 1996 to 2004=2E As well=2C they=27=
ve borrowed technical ideas from the U=2ES=2E Republican strategist Mike=
 Murphy =96 how to slice and dice the demographic segments=2E

But it is the Aussie Liberals who have been their mentors=2E The Liberal=
s began their climb out of 13 years in opposition when their newly hired=
 pollster=2C Mark Textor=2C discovered traditional Labor voters sufficie=
ntly disillusioned with their party to switch sides=2C comparable with t=
he Democrats who defected from their party in 1980 and 1984 to support R=
epublican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan=2E

Mr=2E Textor identified them as economically beleaguered =93battlers=2C=94=
 as =93aspirational voters=2C=94 as blue-collar workers and low-earning =
white-collar workers in the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne and southern=
 coastal Queensland who felt ignored by their government and the country=
=27s elites=2E

The Liberals lured them with meat-and-potatoes issues=2C reductions in t=
axes and cuts to state-supported groups and arts and culture programs=2E=
 They launched a ferocious attack on Labor prime minister Paul Keating=27=
s ineptitude before his party had the opportunity to scare voters by dem=
onizing Mr=2E Howard=2E The Liberal pitch unmistakably was based on soci=
al-class differences=2C something Stephen Harper=27s Conservatives can=27=
t do to the same degree because Canada is a more egalitarian society=2E =
But they=27re coming close=2E

A political strategist speaking off the record said that because the Tor=
ies have a core vote of only 27 per cent of the electorate in a still-do=
minant Liberal political culture=2C they=27re required in each election =
to attract voters who usually support other parties=2E

Thus they=27ve targeted swing voters who they=27ve identified as primari=
ly beleaguered =93battlers=94 and =93aspirational=94 =96 people who see =
funding for the arts as frippery=2C who see foreign involvement such as =
the Afghanistan mission as an unaffordable luxury=2C who think they=27re=
 getting gouged at the gas pump=2E

Liberal Leader St=E9phane Dion=27s carbon tax was characterized by one T=
ory insider as a chunk of =93red meat=94 to be thrown at nominal Conserv=
ative supporters who weren=27t intending to vote as an effective way of =
enticing them to the polls=2E And the Tories branded Mr=2E Dion as ineff=
ectual and indecisive before he could demonize Mr=2E Harper=2E

The main brain behind the Conservative campaign is 35-year-old Patrick M=
uttart=2C a Toronto communications consultant hired by Mr=2E Harper afte=
r he gave the Conservative leader a face-to-face brutal critique of the =
party=27s mistakes in the 2004 election campaign=2E

To call Mr=2E Muttart an ardent student of politics is an understatement=
=2E He travelled on his own to Australia to see Howard elections as well=
 as to Europe and the U=2ES=2E to observe campaigns=2E He is known for h=
is brilliance at creating disciplined=2C well-researched and powerful vi=
sual representations of complex political ideas=2E