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It's the politics of the new-school: digital startups are turning handsome profits by helping campaigns connect with voters through technology.
Agencies that provide digital services -- everything from building an easy-to-navigate website to using digital voter files to targeting specific groups of voters via the web -- are making millions during this year's political season, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The most well-known digital political agencies -- Targeted Victory (a Republican outfit), Blue State Digital and Bully Pulpit Interactive (the top Democratic digital machines) -- have raked in at least $46 million from political candidates and Super PACs, according to Bloomberg.
Smaller upstarts, such as the non-partisan NationBuilder and Rally, have raised $14 million in investment capital over the past year, a sign that investors think politics is a field ripe for digital disruption (NationBuilder is more focused on smaller, local political races).
While the presidential campaigns themselves have sizable digital teams -- more than 100 for Barack Obama, about 80 for Mitt Romney -- there's plenty of interplay between the campaigns' internal digital departments and outside groups. Obama's top two digital officers are from Blue State Digital, while Romney's digital director is on leave from Targeted Victory. Both campaigns are also paying various outside groups to assist with everything from setting up web ads to online fundraising.