Archive for August 11th, 2008
Announcing Obama’s VP, and why that’s not nearly as important as how they did it
A few hours ago, Obama’s campaign manager sent out an email suggesting the campaign was close to announcing a running mate, and inviting their entire email list to be notified when this is announced.
You can read the letter here.
The notification part is what interests me. They obviously want everyone to know about the decision, without having to wait for the news to filter through the press and the hardcore “I check his site every day” supporters, perhaps hoping for yet another burst of donor support. They even go to the extent of offering an instant text message update.
That in itself raises interesting possibilities. Obama’s campaign has built itself up through the use of email lists meticulously collected at rallies from supporters who signed up for more information. These lists are refined and correlated with users who visit the site, donate, and volunteer. Reportedly, they now boast one of the best datasets on Democratic supporters that exists, data that can be used to aid other campaigns.
Now, they’re going to have millions of phone numbers. Millions of cell phone numbers possessed by those young people most difficult to target in polling, least likely to have a land line, and most likely to support Obama.
Of course, the backlash to a campaign that did anything untoward with this information would be horrendous. But since 7:17 PM, the Obama campaign has been compiling what may become one of the most valuable lists in politics.