G.O.P. to Put Digital Strategy at Center of New Structure

As part of a rebuilding effort after its 2012 electoral losses, the Republican National Committee on Tuesday announced plans to put an enhanced digital strategy at the center of its operation, led by a new chief technology officer.

“This is a major change in how party committees operate,” said Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the R.N.C. She explained that while political committees were usually anchored by political and financial departments, “the idea is to center the committee around technology moving forward.”

“There are still questions over how to do it best,” Ms. Kukowski said. “We’re acknowledging that it needs to be done.”

The R.N.C. aims to hire its new technology officer by May 1, after a search that will include Silicon Valley executives and experts in data analysis. Extensive political experience is not necessarily a requirement. The ideal candidate, Ms. Kukowski said, could be someone who “maybe has been an outsider and is maybe able to come in and chage the way that we think.”

Republicans learned the hard way in 2012 how valuable a robust technology operation can be, as the Obama campaign used Web analytics, voter data, social media and online fund-raising to more effectively organize voters, drive turnout and increase donations. The Obama campaign also hired a chief technology officer, Harper Reed, from the tech sector and a team of engineers to build a technology infrastructure to drive the president’s re-election effort.

The digital overhaul is probably just the beginning of the Republicans’ adjustments. On Monday, the party will release a sweeping audit of the 2012 campaign that will include assessments of messaging, fund-raising, campaign mechanics and the primary process - all with an eye toward preparing the R.N.C. for the 2016 campaign.

Reince Priebus, the committee’s chairman,! turned to party elders like Ari Fleischer and Haley Barbour to conduct the so-called Growth and Opportunity Project - a point of derision among younger, more tech-savvy conservative activists. But, said Ms. Kukowski, fresh from a meeting about the review, “a recurring theme throughout this report is getting the youth influence.”

Patrick Ruffini, a Republican strategist who was an early, and once lonely, proponent of digital engagement among conservatives, called the R.N.C.’s plan a “good step.” To close the gap with Democrats, who “have more people at a higher level doing this for a longer period of time,” he said, will require “investing in people and creating a culture of data and innovation that ouches everyone in the party.”

Other aspects of the plan include “digital campaign colleges” in “high tech” cities to build bonds with the tech community and the development of new programs for voter turnout in time to test them during the 2013 and 2014 races.