Pols Ramp Up Online Behavioral Targeted Ads for 2012

Like a lot of things in Washington, policy doesn't always match up with practice. On the one hand, lawmakers and regulators ponder what policies should be adopted around privacy and targeted advertising. At the same time, they're busy adopting online behavioral targeted advertising strategies for political campaigns.

The ability to target individual voters online, whether to raise funds or communicate with interested and prospective voters about specific issues, is hard to resist -- especially in what most predict will be a very close election. "Online, real-time targeting is a very big deal in this election," said John Aristotle Phillips, CEO of Aristotle, during a Politico panel. Panelists spoke about coming to grips with manipulating more data than ever before, both online and offline, to increase donations and engagement. "Data is the bedrock," said Sean Spicer, communications director for the Republican National Committee. "There is a constant struggle to get the right message out."