Obama Holds Edge in Techpaigning

In commentary written for cnn.com on Tuesday, Republican Leslie Sanchez, director of President Bush's Initiative on Hispanic Education from 2001 to 2003 and chief executive officer of the Impacto Group, which conducts market research on women and Hispanics, argues that the Obama campaign holds the technological edge over the McCain campaign. Obama is better at the process of collecting names, email addresses, cell phone numbers and text addresses for its database so it can stay in constant contact with voters and respond to what it believes are negative attacks.

Sanchez wrote:

Obama's database grows exponentially day by day and will give Obama a critical asset in the last 60 days of the campaign. To date, the campaign of Republican candidate John McCain seems unable to match its power. It has launched a social networking node on its "McCain for President" Web site and is reaching out to younger voters through its "Generation 08" online initiative, but these efforts pale in comparison to what Obama has already accomplished. . . . The voters on Obama's cell phone, e-mail and text-messaging lists can be contacted instantly, wherever they are. This will allow him to stay ahead of negative news stories and in a close race, it might make all the difference.

Relying on texting may give Obama a leg up in communicating with (and swaying) Hispanics, who analysts say both candidates need to attract to compete in some key swing states. According to Sanchez:

Hispanics have embraced mobile phones and services faster than any other group, representing the fastest-growing segment of the wireless market, with 52 percent of Hispanics saying they text in any given month, compared to just 28 percent of the general population, according to a mobile usage study by Solutions Research Group.