Obama TXTing His Way Forward
By Jose Antonio Vargas
Early this morning, Sen. Barack Obama sent the first of three text messages to supporters who've signed up to his messaging program and live in the D.C. area. It's a jam-packed message, starting out with an Obama quote, then asking supporters to forward the text to their friends. Most importantly, the text provides an 866 number to call to find your polling location. All you'd have to do is click on the number on your cellphone to make the free call.
"One voice can make a difference. Make that voice yours! Fwd this msg and make sure all your friends vote today for Barack. Questions, call 866-675-2008."
That text is superior to the relatively generic message sent by Sen. Hillary Clinton this afternoon. Compared with Obama, Clinton rarely sends out messages.
"Election Day -- don't forget to vote! Every vote counts in the race for the nomination. Thank you so much for your support."
More than any other campaign, with the exception of Mitt Romney's, Obama has innovatively and consistently used text messaging. Obama launched his program in June, following John Edwards and Clinton. It's impossible to measure how effective it's been, especially since
Scott Goodstein, the text guru at the Obama campaign, won't say how many people have signed up for the program.
What's clear, though, is how directed it is. Goodstein, a member of Obama's new media team, regularly sends out texts asking supporters to reply with their five-digit Zip codes. That information allows Goodstein to send targeted messages. It's a shrewd move for a candidate who's mobilized the thumb-numbing young voters of Generation
Text.
At 1:34 p.m., hours after the first text, Obama sent this message: "People who love their country can change it. Make sure all your friends vote tonight for Barack! Polls open in DC until 8 p.m. For info: 866-675-2008."
Posted at 4:02 PM ET on Feb 12, 2008
Share This: 
Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
"That text is superior to the relatively generic message sent by Sen. Hillary Clinton this afternoon. "
In case no one's mentioned it, that's not your job.
Don't you even get a Journalism 101 orientation or something? Gee whiz, man.
Posted by: zukermand | February 12, 2008 05:30 PM
The Post has a good track record for being impartial for the most part. This article is chipping away at that image.
Posted by: e_askarinam | February 12, 2008 05:56 PM
We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.