Fundraising reform through tech

Kos has an informative post about how early campaign dollars get transformed into sizable contributions throughout a campaign:

Nate, who now works for the Warner operation, again shocked me by saying that $65K we raised ended up being worth about $365,000 by the end of the race (about six months later). Considering he raised about $800K on the race, we accounted for nearly half his fundraising.

That list was segmented and worked. For example, they knew which donors responded to positive poll numbers and which ones responded to attacks on DeLay. And these small donors, unlike the big fish and their $2K checks, could contribute again and again.

That kind of tracking is exciting, and I think will make campaigns more responsive to small donors. I wonder if this could be one way to reduce the impact of big-money lobbyists, as it provides a mechanism for measuring the effectiveness of campaign tactics relative to small donations, which previously were probably rather mysterious. Lobbyists, in contrast, are likely rather clear in their desires and response to policy. With the little guys able to catch up in this regard, maybe we can see some reform.