Louisiana's U.S. Senate race is a central battleground in the Republican Party's national drive to catch up to the Democrats' data collection know-how that helped power President Barack Obama to two terms.
This year, with control of the Senate at stake, Republicans are depending on paid interns and volunteers to help it close the technology gap.
Party organizers have started a door-knocking effort to gather data that can be fed into a mobile phone app and uploaded to a central database for harvesting later.
The party is looking for Republicans who don't always vote in midterm elections, or non-Republicans who might be swayed to vote for Republican candidates.
Some Democrats are critical of the effort — saying the state’s Republicans are a decade behind in technology. They’ve also suggested flaws in the methods the GOP is using.
