Google demonstrated that the same predictive knowledge derived from behavioral surplus that had made the surveillance capitalists wealthy could also help candidates win elections. To make the point, Google was ready to apply its magic to the red-hot core of twenty-first-century campaigning, beginning with the 2008 Obama presidential campaign. Schmidt had a leading role in organizing teams and guiding the implementation of cutting-edge data strategies that would eclipse the traditional political arts with the science of behavioral prediction. Indeed, "At Obama's Chicago headquarters… they remodeled the electorate in every battleground state each weekend… field staff could see the events' impact on the projected behaviors and beliefs of every voter nationwide."

Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Cap…, loc. 391