'A big bet': Inside the $700M operation likely to be blamed if Harris loses
A super PAC raking in hundreds of millions from the world's richest people on the promise of a Vice President Kamala Harris victory will likely be blamed if she loses the presidential election this November, according to a new report.
Future Forward has secured $700 million to mount a massive television campaign based on "Moneyball" styled analytics and —according to its critics — potentially sucking up resources needed elsewhere, the New York Times reported Thursday.
"It’s a big bet," the New York Times reported. "The sheer volume of spending means that Future Forward will receive at least some credit if Ms. Harris wins — and blame if she loses."
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Future Forward blends data science, political science and testing to develop and deliver television and online ads targeting voters on a hyper-specific level, according to the report.
"Future Forward uses online surveys to measure which potential ads will move voters most," the Times reported. "It’s a laborious process, but officials say the ads that emerge are on average 35 percent more effective than those they reject."
Another reported philosophy: "Reserve early, spend late."
"The group began booking fall ads in January to secure the best prices," according to the Times. "The most intense spending is occurring now, guided by an unswerving belief that the persuasive effect of ads decays quickly."
The Harris campaign has publicly expressed support for the PAC but also made an "unusual" statement last month suggesting donors back other groups devoted to on the ground operations.
According to the Times, the primary source of friction is race.
Black groups report to Harris' campaign that Future Forward needs to move faster when it comes to directing cash in their direction, the Times reported.
Quentin James, leader of the Collective PAC, a group focused on Black political power, told the Times, “I think they’ve had too narrow a vision for how we’re going to win this election."
Billy Wimsatt, of the Movement Voter Project, said in a recent memo to donors that get-out-the-vote operations among Black, Latino, Asian and young voters were “dangerously underfunded” by about $165 million, the Times reported.
“It seems like a ton of money is going to paid media," Wimsatt warned, "and not enough to the ground game."