Today’s Candidates
Message + Tech = Success
Is Obama the First Cybergenic President?
You Decide …

Everyone knows Barack Obama has raised millions via the internet. Check the website for the latest dollar tally—the bank account grows by the minute and I can’t even keep track.

This week, organizers were hawking $15 Obama-Biden car magnets. Click, donate, believe and you shall receive.

Guess what? Each dollar is green and each dollar counts big in the click and tumble world of 2008 Election Politics.

Online fundraising allows regular Americans—like you and I to painlessly be part of the process. To feel WE have a small stake in the political game. So we can say we donated to a winner. To show that our money, when pooled, is a valuable piece of the political machine.

And you can comfortably do this from the comfort of your home or office; all you need is a computer screen. While some might still actually volunteer to work in a campaign, organizing door to door, most Americans are mouse potatoes. It’s much easier to make your voice heard through a “click.”

It’s modern communication, activism and political involvement.

We all understand the “VP Choice” text message was released around 3 AM Aug. 24 while college students were out partying. Hundreds of thousands were lured in by this creative promotion, including yours truly and thousands of journalists.

What was achieved by this creativity? The Democratic VP candidates names were kept prominently in the news for about two weeks. Not bad for a free viral publicity gimmick—that worked.

And yes, Springfield … the campaign now has your cell #.

Just like Master Card’s “Priceless” ads that generate mindshare with the public, Obama strategist David Axelrod has created a “Brilliant” IT political strategy.

As quoted Mark Leibovich’s Aug. 3 New York Times article “Hail to the Twitterer,” John McCain has a bit to learn about email and other tech tools:

“We’re not asking for a president to answer his own e-mail,” said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley futurist who teaches at Stanford. “We’re asking for a president who understands the context of what e-mail means.”

Further, the story went on to say …

“There’s a certain tempo to the thinking of someone who uses all kinds of new media,” said Mr. Saffo, who said he would anoint Mr. Obama, if elected, “the first cybergenic president,” just as John F. Kennedy was considered the first telegenic president.