Obama's Text
While many were disappointed that they got their text message announcing Barack's choice of Joe Biden to be his runningmate at 3:04 AM (and in a third-person, non-Barack voice), I'm still waiting for my text after having signed up late.
The reason I signed up late was that I thought it was kind of lame. It was certainly smart as an organizing tool. And it continues the Obama campaign's appeal to Millennials, even if it was apparent the text came from a machine instead of Barack himself.
But I remembered 2004, when Kerry attempted to announce his runningmate. While good in theory, as the Kerry campaign was probably able to gain several thousand email addresses, the press scooped his selection of John Edwards before his supporters could be fed the secret information. By the time they got the email, it served as one more echo of the news the mainstream media had already trumpeted.
All along I was hesitant to sign up because I figured that, in the end, this text message would become just as irrelevant. Today's news media would simply not allow a text message or an email to notify the world about the choice made. I figured I'd end up reading about it on the internet somewhere anyway, and the Obama campaign already has every piece of information it would need about me anyway. I ended up signing up just to be a part of it all, but again, to me, the text message was lame.
What did you think? (Below is a photo on techPresident of David All's text received from the Obama campaign.)

Breaking News
Think Progress:
Media Default To John Bolton For Criticism Of Obama’s U.N. PickLast Monday, President-elect Barack Obama announced the nomination of his campaign’s senior foreign policy adviser Susan Rice as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Obama added that he would ...Think Progress:
Poll finds large majorities favor rights of gays to adopt, serve in the military.A new poll commissioned by the LGBT advocacy group GLAAD found encouraging news for supporters of gay rights: – Three-quarters of U.S. adults (75%) favor either marriage or domestic ...Marc Ambinder:
The RNC Chairman's Race: Updated HandicappingWho will Sarah Palin endorse for RNC chair? Who's the Palin candidate? Saxby Chambliss's victory has certified the Palin wing of the party as the center of its gravity -- at ...TPM Election Central:
Pro-Business Types Worried About Obama's Possible Pick As Trade Rep?Here's something that will give a bit of cheer to progressives worried about the direction of the Obama administration: His rumored choice for U.S. Trade Representative, Congressman Xavier Becerra, ...First Read:
Rendell apologizes for comments on AZ GOVFrom NBC's Lauren AppelbaumDuring a news conference on budget reductions today, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) apologized for a hot mic statement he made yesterday, saying Arizona Gov. Janet ...
Featured Video
2008 Youth Vote in Context
The following charts and graphs are meant to contextualize the unique role that young voters played in the 2008 election, and their increasingly important role in a winning electoral coalition:
2008 Youth Electoral Map

2004 Youth Electoral Map

Youth Vote Partisan Advantage: 2000 - 2008

Youth Vote Historical Support: 1976 - 2008

Recent Blog Posts
-
Earlier this week I posted two blog entries commenting on a post by Erica Williams pertaining to the current state of youth organizing. Erica made one final point that I'd still like to address: Who ...by: Michael Connery | 0 comments
-
Bumped. --Mike Cross posted on College Dems NY. Today at a hearing on the ballots in the SD 11 case, the judge ordered that the St. Johns students that were subpoenaed could leave because they ...by: NY College Dems | 0 comments
-
(as cross posted on http://collegedemsny.com/blog/?p=412) Today at a hearing on the ballots in the SD 11 case, the judge ordered that the St. Johns students that were subpoenaed could leave because ...by: NY College Dems | 0 comments
-
cross posted on the College Dems of NY blog: http://www.collegedemsny.com/blog In New York's 11th State Senate District, the race is still yet to be determined because the counting of ballots has not ...by: NY College Dems | 0 comments
-
cross posted on College Dems of NY blog: http://www.collegedemsny.com/blog After 2 exhausting hours of debate and discussion, the College Democrats of NY (CDNY) executive board voted by a majority ...by: NY College Dems | 0 comments
Blogroll
- Ablogistan
- Apophenia
- Bad Subjects
- Burnt Orange Report
- Campus Progress
- Campus Vote
- College Democrats
- Culture Blog
- The Daily Background
- The Daily Taylor
- Ezra Klein
- Everyday Citizen
- For Which It Stands
- Generation Next
- Got Democracy
- It’s Getting Hot in Here
- Kevin Bondelli
- Kid Oakland
- Kossacks Under 35
- Left in the West
- Liberal College Kid
- The Low Post
- Matt Ortega
- Michigan Liberal
- Michigan Youth Political Alliance
- Millennials Changing America
- Open Left
- Penn Progress
- Planting Liberally
- Policy Farm Team
- Political Teen Tidbits
- Prose Before Hos
- Pullman Progressive
- Pushback Network
- The Raw Story
- Rethinking Youth
- Rock the Vote
- Tapped
- Think Youth
- Young Democrats
- Young MO Politico
- Young People For
- Young Philly Politics
- Young-Politics
- YouthinkLeft
- WireTap
- Wonkette
If you have a blog written by or for young progressives, and you would like to be listed, contact Mike.
Young Progressives
- 21st Century Dems
- Black Youth Vote
- The Bus Federation
- Campus Climate Challenge
- Campus Progress
- Campus Wellstone
- Center for Progressive Leadership
- College Democrats
- DNC Youth Council
- DMI Scholars
- Forward Montana
- Future 5000
- Generation Change
- Generational Alliance
- The League
- Kossacks Under 35
- Lose the Label
- Minnesota Youth Caucus
- New Era Colorado
- Oregon Bus Project
- Progressive U
- Roosevelt Institution
- Run For Office
- Students for a New American Politics
- Swing Semester
- USSA
- Washington Bus
- Young Democrats of America
- Young Elected Officials Network
- Young People For
- Young Voter PAC
Cultural Capitalizers
- All Ages Movement Project
- Billionaires for Bush
- Drinking Liberally
- Free Culture
- Head Count
- Hip Hop Summit Action Network
- Ironweed Films
- Justice Through Music
- Laughing Liberally
- Lokahi Outreach
- National Hip Hop Political Convention
- ONE Campaign
- Progressive Book Club
- Rock the Vote
- Screening Liberally
- Vera Project
- Youth Movement Records
























Text Strategy
I found the whole thing disappointing as well, but I think on the whole there is no way the campaign can regard it as anything but success.
Sure, the text itself was lame, it came in the dead of night (though, to be fair, on a Friday. Kids out partying might have gotten the message and started a conversation at the club . . . ok, maybe I'm stretching), but the main purpose was never to make sure that young people were the first to know. It was always to build a database of cell phone numbers for GOTV purposes in the fall.
As we've written many times, text message reminders bump voter turnout by 4%. That number jumps to 7 - 9% among Latinos. So while some people might be disgruntled, I think the vast majority of non-political junkies probably didn't think too much about the late timing of the message, and all those people will be GOTV'd over their phone in November.