Politicians Are "Mobilizing"

Politicians using mobile phones is not groundbreaking news. In fact, mobile phones have been pivotal to elections around the world. In South Korea many credit President Roh Moo Hyun’s election win with the mass SMS and email messages his supporters sent out in the days before the election urging people to vote. In its most recent election, India cracked down on campaigners’ use of wall graffiti and posters, so candidates found another way to spread their messages – via text messages. Spain’s election was tipped in favor of current president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero when flash mobs organized through SMS messages took to the streets to protest the other political party. Thailand’s Election Commission sent 25 million text messages out to remind people to vote, and the Philippines is practically synonymous with mobile politics.

But the United States has lagged behind, that is until now. Hotline reports that two prominent U.S. politicians have launched their own SMS campaigns. Senator John Edwards, who is planning a 2008 presidential run, now lets his supporters sign up to receive SMS messages from him. Senator Rick Santorum, who is in the midst of a tough re-election campaign, similarly is encouraging people to sign up to receive text messages from him about his stance on the issues. His website even has directions on how to send and receive text messages, something that could be very important since many Americans still don’t text message.

Some political analysts predict that the upcoming 2008 president election will spur a “mobile revolution,” much like 2004 election brought about major changes in the way politicians used the internet to campaign and fundraise. Joe Trippi, the man behind Howard Dean’s online campaign, has said “we may be talking about the Great Text-Messaging Campaign of 2008, not the Great Blog Campaign.”

I doubt either of the senator’s SMS campaigns are unique enough to be the start of a revolution, but it’s nice to see them test out ways to mobilize their campaigns. And I’m sure we’ll see more interesting use of SMS and cell phones in the United States as campaigning heats up.

Read more about Edwards and Santorum’s SMS campaigns.