Obama's Historic Text Message Announcement
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama made wireless history shortly after 3 a.m. on Saturday when his campaign announced via text message to supporters that Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., would be Obama’s pick for vice president. This marked the first time that a presidential campaign has used SMS to unveil a running mate.
Traffic on Sprint's short code for the Obama campaign rose 255 percent (see graph) following the announcement, the company said in a press release. Sprint is standing by to help presidential campaign supporters of Republican Sen. John McCain share the news of his running mate when the Arizona senator announces his pick later this month, whether they do so via voice, SMS, e-mail or Nextel Direct Connect, the telecom firm said.
In addition, as previously announced by Sprint, Obama and McCain supporters will benefit from improved network coverage in Denver, site of the Democratic National Convention, and in St. Paul, Minn., the site of the Republican National Convention.
Obama's SMS stunt was not without controversy. Fake text messages spread like wildfire with false claims that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, former Vice President Al Gore and even Olympian Michael Phelps would be Obama's number two. Read more here.
Update: Some Web denizens have complained they either received the Obama text late or not at all. A Sprint spokesman points out: "One thing to keep in mind is that text messages are not delivered simultaneously by any carrier -- they are sent in a staggered fashion. So not the 'fail' that some have been saying on Twitter."
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Campaign 2008
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