Both things sound true, it's the opposite of "garbage in, garbage out", they've got good data now along the lines of micro-targeting and Obama '08, but they haven't any wise people analyzing or interpreting that data. It's a syndrome I know quite well from using art auction price databases which all appraisers do. It's quite easy to obliterate the argument of another appraiser who interprets the data from afar without having watched or seen the any auctions in person, and without having any real experience in the market, they don't know how to see what's behind the numbers they are looking at, don't know it's not a simple system. (Is why art dealers often look down on appraisers as idiots, although that too is sometimes self-serving in support of rip-off prices. Someone who has seen both sides is best at this guess-timation thing.)

‘I question their competency’

Amanda Renteria, a former top Clinton campaign aide who was trounced by GOP Rep. David Valadao by more than 15 percentage points in a neighboring Valley district in 2014, said the DCCC is “extremely data oriented.”

“I get how they might think this is out of reach,” she said. “What they don’t know is there’s never been a CD-22 race like this.”