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More than 2,400 delegates could ultimately end up coming up for grabs on the convention floor if no candidate clinches the nomination after the initial balloting. Some may already have revealed on their Facebook pages that they were fans of Terminator movies. So a call from Arnold Schwarzenegger could be the nudge that wins them over. Or perhaps they are gun enthusiasts, in which case they might be awed by a convention floor chat with Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Assn.
Cambridge Analytica claims to have developed a “psychographic” profile of every one of the delegates chosen so far. Such profiles, which are rooted in reams of consumer and personal background data acquired by the company, put people into such categories as “stoic traditionalist” or “extroverted leader” and are already being used to target voters.

There are also more nuts-and-bolts considerations for campaigns -- knowing where any particular delegate stands at any particular moment, for example.
“Speed is going to kill when votes are taken, and the campaign that can best use data quickly will have a huge advantage,” said Mark Stephenson, who was Scott Walker’s chief data officer during the Wisconsin governor's short-lived presidential campaign.
“You have to be able to persuade people fast, with that data at your fingertips. Technology enables you to be relevant when you are talking to your targets,” he said.