About

SMART, DATA-DRIVEN
WINNING CAMPAIGNS

Over 50 years ago, Mark Grebner founded a small voter data firm in East Lansing that relied on data meticulously entered by hand on mainframe computers rented from MSU in the wee hours of the morning. His clients were provided voter lists produced using dot matrix printers on 4 x 6 inch, perforated notecards. Times have certainly changed but our firm - and Grebner's desire - to maintain the most accurate voter file in Michigan endures. In fact, we've invested millions of dollars in building and maintaining the file that wins the most elections in Michigan.

"The Grebner List" as it is commonly known, has played a major role in electing candidates running for nearly every office in Michigan. Over five decades, the success stories are in the hundreds, with clients past and present walking the halls of the state Capitol, serving as mayors and county commissioners, school board members, and even making it all the way to the White House.

But great voter lists isn't all we've become known for as one of Michigan's longest running, most established political consulting firms.

As a full-service firm, we are able to fulfill nearly all the campaign needs of any serious candidate or organization to run effective, successful operations. Further, we are proud of the many partnerships we've built across Michigan that allow our clients the ability to tap in to a vast network of specialists and practitioners, only available to PPD clients.

We're in the business of finding the unique potential in every campaign, creating a narrative, and leading the discussion in the public by working with our clients to effectively tell their stories to the right voters using a holistic approach that combines the best voter data possible with smart campaign strategies.

STEVE ROSS

MARK GREBNER

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Steve began as an idealistic student volunteer at MSU back in 2004, knocking doors and making calls. Though the results of

that election were disappointing, a fire was lit and he dove in with both feet the following cycle, where he had a chance encounter with a young-Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. Steve told himself he would do whatever he could to elect Obama president, should he ever run. Months later, much sooner than expected, this became reality.

Steve worked in a number of capacities for the Obama campaign, which eventually led to a short stint in the White House. While there, Steve decided DC wasn't for him and yearned for the excitement of the campaign life. He moved back to Lansing and joined Mark Grebner at his firm.

Over the past 20 years, Steve has developed a reputation in political circles as a bright strategist with the unique ability to build and drive narratives while seeing the big picture, and has a deep understanding of voter targeting and effectively and efficiently contacting voters.

His vast experience ranges from involvement in countless races at the local, countywide, judicial, Congressional, and statewide levels as well as ballot initiatives.

Beginning in 1972, Mark Grebner began volunteering in political campaigns on the MSU campus, where he was an undergraduate. By

1973, he realized the most valuable contribution he could make would be to convert the campaigns' paper records into computerized data, using what he had learned in his computer programming classes. At that time - 50 years ago - that meant keypunching the names, addresses, and numbers onto punched cards which could be mechanically sorted and then printed onto mailing labels.

A few years later, Grebner realized he could apply his statistical coursework to building models that predicted the voting behavior of each voter, using publicly available information such as their demographics and voting history.

By 1983, he began to apply political science and his knowledge of Michigan law to craft a deep understanding of the process by which voters reach their decisions, and the ways campaigns can intervene to affect those decisions in their own favor.

Since then, Grebner has developed a national reputation as an expert in modeling voter behavior, including the creation of powerful new get-out-the-vote techniques.

Features

"THE KEEPERS OF THE BEST LISTS IN MICHIGAN"
- THE NEW YORK TIMES

Practical Political Data provides campaigns with accurate lists of voters in their community that are likely to vote in a given election. Some of our data points include name, address, phone number, donor history, likelihood of being a Democrat or Republican, likelihood of voting by absentee ballot, information like organization memberships, occupation, and issue support, and much more. We offer a range of data packages to fit the needs and price point of any campaign.

Projects

OUR WINNING FORMULA
STORY + VOTER CONTACT + DATA

No two political campaigns are alike. That's why we take the time to get to know you and your team, your voters, and your community. Then, together, develop a winning plan and work with you to execute through Election Day.

We believe in running holistic campaigns that employ a healthy reliance on modern campaign tools, proven techniques that have withstood the test of time, captive storytelling across varying mediums, and access to the absolute best voter targeting data in Michigan to win our elections.