Measuring the Drapes – A report from Florida showcases how Jeb Bush is confident in his primary victory and spending massive amounts of money (Super Pac and campaign) for General Election data collection.

WASHINGTON — Months before the first primaries, Jeb Bush and his allies are building a data-driven operation to turn out voters in the general election much later — spending heavily on the assumption he will overcome his sluggish start and win the Republican presidential nomination.

[…]  the Bush campaign has already used its data system to run thousands of tests simulating the primary elections in the first four states to vote and is building detailed profiles of voters, campaign manager Danny Diaz said in a memo sent last week.

The vendor the Bush team selected to serve both the campaign and super PAC was Digital Core Campaign, run by a former Facebook engineer and Republican National Committee official named Andy Barkett.

The Bush campaign has spent just shy of $140,000 with the firm for “web services,” according to a report filed last week with the Federal Election Commission. The super PAC, which is on a different disclosure schedule, paid the company about $426,000 for “database management” before July 1.

[…]  The Bush teams’ focus on creating a data system designed to win the general election reflects their confidence after jointly raising more than $127 million through the end of September. That figure includes the $103 million brought in by the super PAC in the first six months of the year.  (read more)