Republicans turnout machine

The Houston Chronicle has a good article today on the GOP "turnout machine":

In 2004, the Republican Party used marketing-style data-mining ... calculating whether a certain voter in a particular district owned a snowmobile and was therefore a likely Republican voter, then targeting the prospect with a narrow political message.

...

Campaigns try to boost turnout by targeting voters who tend to vote early and providing them with information about voting hours, ballots and maps to polling places near their districts.