Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, stands out as a libertarian and possible Republican presidential candidate in 2016. He's a keynote speaker at Reboot, which seeks to harness tech-savvy millennials to supercharge upcoming GOP causes and campaigns.
Dhillon says Republican tech savvy, or lack thereof, played a critical role in the 2012 presidential race.
"We've been working to close that divide since we took a drubbing in the polls in 2012 nationally," she said. "I do admit that the Obama campaign specifically, more so than the Democratic Party, had an outstanding presence and definitely did better than us."
Statisticians agree. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com was still working for the New York Times in 2012, when, after noting Obama's huge Silicon Valley fundraising advantages over Mitt Romney, he wrote this:
Since Democrats had the support of 80 percent or 90 percent of the best and brightest minds in the information technology field, it shouldn’t be surprising that Mr. Obama’s information technology infrastructure was viewed as state-of-the-art exemplary, whereas everyone from Republican volunteers to Silicon Valley journalists have criticized Mr. Romney’s systems. Mr. Romney’s get-out-the-vote application, Project Orca, is widely viewed as having failed on Election Day, perhaps contributing to a disappointing Republican turnout.
But, Dhillon said, Republicans are working to turn that around.
"We do have quite a bit of depth in our research team here in Silicon Valley, we're developing apps, we know what our needs are, and we expect to outperform the Democrats in 2016."
She cautions against throwing baby kissing out with the bathwater, though.
"It's really taking that high-level data and translating it down to the street level and the shoe leather, which is still the best way to communicate with voters," she said.
The Reboot conference lasts through Sunday at the W Hotel in San Francisco.
Listen to Cy Musiker's interview with Hameet Dhillon below:
