Data Mining

Some of those who are hypothesizing about the seemingly unjustified optimism of the the Bush administration's Karl Rove about the outcomes of the midterm election think that Republicans are counting on their secret data weapon. As CBS news points out, marketing data can be used to identify the political leanings of potential voters. For example, bourbon drinkers and Field and Stream readers are more likely to vote for the GOP. Of course, I find myself with certain questions about privacy, and I wonder what the founding fathers would have said about such intimate powers of surveillance.