Barack Obama Using Text Messaging To Get Out Youth And Black Vote

As Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s get-out-the-vote operation kicks in today, his campaign will be using a communication technique increasingly popular with young people in the 21st century: text messaging.

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.

And if Republican candidate Sen. John McCain loses, you can just hear some comedian say that while Obama used text messaging, McCain’s campaign used pay phones.