Obama Counts on Text Messages to Drive Turnout of Youth, Blacks

By Christopher Stern

Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama's campaign is counting on a potent new weapon for Election Day: the humble cell-phone text message.

Texting -- an obsession of the young and a necessity for lower-income voters -- may do for the Democratic presidential candidate what arm-twisting precinct captains did in years past: prod millions to get out and vote. The Obama campaign plans to use the millions of cell-phone numbers it has amassed over the past 22 months to blast its supporters with that message today.

``Barack Obama is reaching a generation that is trying to change the world in 160 characters or less,'' said David All, a political consultant who advises Republicans on Internet strategy.

That is the aspiration. The biggest concern for the Obama campaign is getting young people -- who have registered in record numbers and shown unprecedented interest in surveys -- to turn out. In 2004, only 45 percent of those under 30 showed up to vote, according to Census data, making them just 16 percent of the electorate that year.

Getting these 44 million eligible voters who represent one- quarter of the electorate to the polls today will be particularly important because there have been reports that this group hasn't turned out for early voting at the same increased rate as other Obama supporters, such as blacks.

YouTube Videos

For almost two years, Obama, 47, has dominated the politics of the Internet, where his YouTube videos have been watched 90 million times, his social-networking site has recruited 8 million volunteers and he has more than 2 million supporters on Facebook.

The power of technology has been made clear by Obama's advantage over the Republican nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain, in terms of raising money and building an army of volunteers; the election will test whether that effort also delivers actual votes.

All, a Republican, said he admires the Illinois senator's success in using the Internet to exploit every technological advantage.

Studies show that texting is among the most effective and cheapest ways of getting supporters, particularly blacks, Hispanics and younger voters, to the voting booth.

Effective in 2006

During the 2006 midterm elections, young voters who were texted on Election Day were 4 percent more likely to cast a ballot, according to a study conducted by researchers at Princeton University and the University of Michigan.

The cost of each vote was $1.56 compared with $32 for leafleting, which increases voting by 1.2 percent, the study said.

``We are targeting our base, inner-city minority communities who are lower on the income scale with less predictability about where they live,'' said Thomas Gensemer, managing partner of Washington-based Blue State Digital, a consulting company that managed Obama's online campaign.

The Obama campaign has been preparing for today's text- messaging offensive for more than a year. In August, it promised anyone who provided a phone number that they would get first notice of the vice-presidential pick.

Press reports ultimately scooped the text announcement that Delaware Senator Joe Biden was the choice. And the announcement was bungled as many of those who registered with the campaign failed to get their text until hours after it was made public.

New Contacts

The effort, however, was a success because it resulted in 3 million people registering their phones, said Andrew Rasiej, a founder of TechPresident.com, a Web site that has been tracking the influence of technology on the election.

The Republican National Committee also is using texting, though not on the same scale as the Obama campaign.

``We are sending targeted text messages throughout our targeted states,'' said Cyrus Krohn, director of the RNC's eCampaign.

Overall, the McCain campaign has failed to build as strong a presence on the Internet. Obama raised more than $600 million, much of it from online donations, compared with McCain's $217 million. Obama has more than 2 million friends on the social- networking site Facebook, compared with 560,000 for McCain. The Democrat's campaign videos have been viewed 92 million times, more than triple the number for McCain, 72.

`Started Late'

``The problem with the McCain campaign has been that it started late and there wasn't a culture of belief in technology,'' Rasiej said.

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds didn't respond to queries about its outreach effort.

All said he signed up to receive text messages from the Republican National Committee in June and has yet to receive any.

``To my knowledge, there is no way to sign up for McCain text messages,'' All said in an e-mail.

The silence from the Republican camp is in sharp contrast to the tech-savvy Obama campaign, All said. As an example, he pointed to an iPhone application the Democrat unveiled Oct. 2.

The ``Obama 08'' application effectively turns the users' phone into a database for the campaign. It creates a new address book that highlights contacts the user has in swing states such as Colorado, Virginia or North Carolina, and feeds the information back to the campaign.

If the user asks for more information about an issue, the phone provides details on Obama's position on more than 18 topics. Using the phone's GPS service, the application also provides lists of dozens of local Obama events and driving directions to get there.

``I love it,'' All said. The application is ``perhaps the best empowerment tool that has ever existed.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Stern in Washington at Cstern3@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: November 4, 2008 00:01 EST

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