Lakeview grad helped Bush win online

The Bush campaign 'had a lot of intelligence' on its audience, the computer expert said.
CORTLAND -- A Lakeview High School graduate helped build the technology that let President Bush use the Internet to mobilize 1 million volunteers for his re-election campaign.
Brad Foust, 30, is a player in the world of Internet politics.
This year was the first time the Internet was truly established as part of a major political campaign, dubbed the "e-campaign," said Foust, formerly of Cortland, who now lives in Akron and works for New Media Communications in Richfield.
The business designs Web pages for Republican candidates and conservative-leaning groups. "Politics is our niche market," he said.
As senior programmer for GeorgeWBush.com, Foust worked with a team of four developers who were in constant contact with the campaign. He worked on "the technology that allowed the site to function."
His roles were to interface with the Bush campaign, figure out its problems and solve them.
Foust is a 1992 Lakeview High School graduate and son of Deb and Tom Foust of Cortland. After four years in the Air Force, he received his Kent State University degree in computer information systems in 2002. He's been with the company five years.
Targeted and localized
The architecture and programming Foust worked on allowed the Bush campaign to localize its volunteers to get out the vote.
"Everything was very targeted, very localized," he explained. "We knew who the volunteers were, and what to ask them to do. We had a lot of intelligence on our audience and we were able to use them to get the message out."
The effort used what he called "viral marketing," which was chain-reaction e-mail sent to volunteers, who'd then send it to a bunch of their friends.
It was called the largest grass-roots campaign in America, with 6 million e-mail activists and more than 1.5 million volunteers working to re-elect the president, Foust said. About 20.3 million people visited GeorgeWBush.com between its launch and the election.
"We built tools for the campaign to update content of the Web site in real time, and were in touch with them hourly," he said. He recalled not getting much sleep at all, "especially near the end."
The work of six staffers plus contractors as needed -- as many as 15 during the campaign -- contributed to Bush's win, he said.
The GeorgeWBush.com Web site was available through early December after starting in August 2003. Now, visitors there are directed to the Republican National Committee site.
He also said that more than $19 million was raised online for the Bush-Cheney '04 Primary account, General Election Legal and Compliance Account and the Republican National Committee.
Referrals
Foust said he and his colleagues are now busy with a lot of referral work obtained through the campaign, including work for the GOP National Committee.
His wife, Amanda, a native of Akron, also works for the company.
Mike Connell started New Media Communications in 1994. It designed Bush's site for his 2000 campaign after running a Web site for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in 1998. It also has won awards for sites created for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., and Ohio Gov. Bob Taft.
New Media has also worked with Ohio Sen. George Voinovich. Seven congressional seats went to Republicans whose Web sites and electronic communications campaigns were created by New Media.