Romney strategist: We were two years behind Obama

Campaigns & Elections

It would have taken Mitt Romney’s campaign an extra two years to match the digital infrastructure assembled by President Obama’s reelection effort.  That’s according to Warner Jones, who was the digital program manager on Romney’s presidential bid. During a panel at C&E’s CampaignTech conference in Washington on Thursday, Jones said his team needed between nine and 24 months to catch up to Obama’s online organization. Part of the reason they were so far behind was staffing. Romney’s digital team was a fraction of the incumbent’s—32 people compared to some 200 working for Obama’s digital operation. Moreover, almost half of the Romney digital operation was done by outside consultants—only 17 were in house.