Cover Story: Political Direct Marketing 2004

Richard Viguerie, political copywriter and chairman of American Target Advertising, has observed how “the left has certainly caught up,” and adds that many right-wing organizations have not done nearly enough professional, sophisticated list segmentation and targeting for this election cycle.

“It has been a shock and an unpleasant surprise to Republican leaders nationwide that the advantage they have enjoyed over many years has basically been erased by the Democrats’ success in direct mail fundraising this year,” says Viguerie, who is widely regarded as the “funding father” of the conservative movement. Shortly after GOP presidential candidate and staunch conservative Barry Goldwater lost the election in 1964 to Lyndon B. Johnson, Viguerie copied the names and addresses of roughly 12,500 Goldwater donors available at the Library of Congress and used the information to launch direct mail appeals.