JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A sign near the toilet said: “Text FLUSH to Robin.” Above the restroom sink was another suggestion: “Text WASH to Robin.”
Was this some sort of potty-room prank? Or high-tech graffiti?
Neither, actually. The bathroom bulletins were part of a calculated campaign strategy by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Robin Carnahan to collect as many cell phone numbers as possible for a text-message database.
In politics 2010, wireless phone numbers have become prized possessions. Landline phone calls increasingly get screened. E-mails sometimes get deleted even before they are opened. And anything looking like junk mail often ends up in the trash. But text messages get people’s attention — instantly.
“From a campaign’s perspective, texts are great, because there’s a really high open rate for those,” Carnahan said. “They pop up on your phone, so it‘s really easy to communicate with people quickly and know that they’re seeing that piece of information.”
Like many candidates this year, Carnahan is attempting to duplicate the successful social media strategies of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, which built an enormous cell phone database by promising to break the news of his vice presidential pick by text message. Obama messaged more than 1 million phones with his announcement. As the election neared, Obama texted those people again to encourage them to vote.
This year, Democrats and Republicans alike are employing gimmicks, giveaways and all sorts of grand means to gather the wireless phone numbers of likely supporters and voters.
Carnahan’s Republican Senate opponent, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, has been traveling around Missouri in a bright blue RV emblazoned with the words: “Text JOBS to BLUNT.”
On opening day for the Milwaukee Brewers, Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold asked people to text his campaign with predictions of who would win the mascot sausage race — Bratwurst, Polish, Italian, Hot Dog or Chorizo. (The Polish sausage won.)
California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman is running a text-messaging trivia contest. Those who correctly answer the question of which California team has won the most College World Series titles become eligible to win a free hat.
Anyone who texts “Tix” to 54608 — the code for the campaign of U.S. Rep. Joseph Cao, of Louisiana — is entered into a contest for two tickets to the Oct. 31 game between the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers.
There was a similar text-message-based contest sponsored this summer by the campaign of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Las Vegas resident Matthew Sorvillo won the prize of a ticket valued at $1,000 for a prime seat at an Ultimate Fighting Championship match.
Sorvillo said through a Facebook message to The Associated Press that he had been a supporter of Reid’s long before he won the contest.
That‘s typical of many people who sign up to receive a candidate’s text messages. The goal of the texts usually isn’t to target the highly sought-after independent voters but to identify hardcore supporters who can be tapped as political evangelists to their friends and neighbors.
“I see it as a way to tether your base voter to your organization,” said Scott Goodstein, who ran Obama’s social media efforts and counts Carnahan as one of his clients at Revolution Messaging, which provides text-messaging and social media services. “They may not reading every piece of direct mail, they may not be reading every e-mail, but people are reading every single text message.”
About 4.3 billion text messages were sent daily in the U.S. last year, according to the Washington-based trade group, CTIA-The Wireless Association. There is no way to know exactly how many of those were from political campaigns, but the percentage is likely small, said Michael Becker, a director for the Mobile Marketing Association, a group that promotes text-message marketing.
Each text message can cost a campaign anywhere from a few pennies to a dime, said Phil Sweatman, president and CEO of ArX Mobile Inc., whose clients include Whitman and Cao.
For politicians to fully capitalize on the investment, they must make their text-message code as conspicuous as a campaign slogan by including it on yard signs, bumper stickers and in every broadcast or print advertisement, he said. And the text messages they send also should tie in to other media or encourage people to take particular actions.
“The political campaigns don’t quite get it yet,” Sweatman said. “In order to make text messaging effective, you can’t look at it as a standalone technology — its got to be integrated with all your other marketing media.”
Blunt, who is running against Carnahan for an open Missouri Senate seat, has made strides toward that. In addition to his RV, the “Text JOBS to Blunt” message has appeared on his website and social media sites and been mentioned during some campaign events.
“Frankly, we’re trying to communicate with people in every way we can think of,” Blunt said.
His campaign has been building a database of cell phone numbers since it launched in February 2009 and says so far it’s sent tens of thousands of text messages — counting multiple messages to the same subscribers — providing people updates on such things public opinion polls and campaign ads. On primary election day, Blunt used text messages to help gauge voter turnout.
In Carnahan’s campaign, those who texted words such as “FLUSH”, “WASH” or “WAKE UP” during a Democratic conference in March have been receiving one or two text messages a week about the latest campaign developments. Nearly all of Carnahan’s texts include Internet links to videos, ads or the campaign website. When the Fox News Network recently sued Carnahan’s campaign alleging copyright infringement for a TV ad, Carnahan sent an urgent text message pledging to fight the suit with a link to a campaign website suggesting contributions ranging from $10 to $2,400.
Carnahan says she wasn’t aware ahead of time that her campaign staff was placing the restroom posters encouraging people to text bathroom-related words. But she has embraced the general approach.
“Every new text and phone number you get is important,” she said.
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JohnDoe
Posted on October 5, 2010 at 9:08amOur great country was founded by and for the citizens of the thirteen colonies. It was designed to insure that a central government was controlled and limited by representatives of those citizens. It was given a limited amount of power, with many checks and balances, to secure the rights and freedoms for its citizens. They were making sure that an American Government would and could not become as Britian had. England enacted laws and taxes on their American subjects, but without allowing the colonies a say in their government. Ignoring the will of the people of America, they bullied and took away what limited rights they had and tried to force them to comply. Sound familiar? Yes, we don’t have to look far across the Atlantic at a despotic leader, we have only to look at the Oval Office in Washington, D. C. and to those whom we had entrusted the liberties of the people and the country. Our representatives, Senate and the House, are there to represent the will of the people. Instead, they have consistently lied to the constituents, both during campaigns and when in office. They have consistently rob the American people, not only of their money, but also by stealing their liberties, little by little. The incumbent office holders allow themselves to be above the law, they allow themselves to steal by back-room corrupt deals and the like. They ignore the very people who put them in office, they even resort to passing laws, under cover of darkness. They hide laws and corrupt deals in the midst of thousand of pages of laws. This has always been a trick of unethical lawyers. Their mindset is to bog down any opposition by inudating them with mountains of paperwork. Then, they laugh and call the people stupid and ignorant, or worse! No doubt, I could go on and on. Their lack of character, morals and ethics makes them unfit to be employed anywhere, let alone entrusted with the security, freedom, and economic growth of this great country. They have taken your freedom to worship, especially targeting Christianity. They have tried to rewrite the American history, to further their agendas, just like the Moslems continue to do with Israel.
Soon after deciding what sort of Government America was to become, that very question was asked of Benjamin Franklin. In reply Franklin said, “A Republic….if we can keep it”. This is a question that should be upon the lips of all true American patriots. If we can’t or more correctly, if we won’t, then we don’t deserve it. The choice is up to us, the American people, and the answer should be and must be yes we will!
You’re probably asking how do we insure that we will keep this nation a free Republic. Oh, we voted for only those who promised no more taxes, no more spending, etc., etc. Of course they all were proven to be liars again (or should I have said they were just not quite forthcoming or perhaps they were a little disingenuious?). Then we did the “best of the two evils” choice. This was no different than the “Magician’s Choice” trick! We now know that there is no difference between Republicans and the Democrats when it comes to which is telling the truth. Neither has the best interest of America at heart, probably not even in mind! Their goal is simply to acquire power, money, more power and more money while doing and saying anything to remain in office.
So what is the answer? They don’t listen when the people, overwhelmingly, protest and tries to voice their opposition. So the American people need to get their UNDIVIDED attention. How? WE THE PEOPLE, must vote any and all incumbents out of office. It doesn’t matter if they are better than most. If they haven’t been part of the solution, then they are part of the problem. THEY MUST KNOW AND WE MUST LET THEM KNOW THAT GOVERNMENT WILL NO LONGER BE RUN BY ROUGUE LAWYERS AND OPPORTUNISTS, PROGRESSIVES (AKA SOCIALISTS), ETC. THEY ARE NOTHING MORE THAN MODERN-DAY CARPETBAGGERS OR WANNA-BE DICTATORS. THEY MUST BE EDUCATED TO THE FACT THAT THEY WILL BE VOTED OUT AGAIN AND AGAIN, UNTIL THEY LEARN THAT OUR REPRESENTATIVES ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO RUN THEIR OWN VERISON OF CRIME, INC.
AND THOSE THAT ARE ELECTED TO OFFICE, BUT CONTINUE TO DO WHAT IS BEST FOR THEIR OWN BENEFIT WILL SOON LEARN THEY WILL HAVE ONLY ONE TERM IN OFFICE.
We, the people, need to lobby our newly elected representatives to enact new laws to insure ALL our freedoms, our security, etc. Enact laws that ethical or criminal behavior of representatives will be prosecuted swiftly and severly, with no possibility of any pardon…not by a state Governor nor by a President! Enact laws or amendments to limit a President to one term only, ensuring that any damage to our country will not be as damaging as is obvious with this Government. Further limit the terms of our Representatives, both in the Senate and the House. Imperative to limit the term of all Supreme Court Justices to no more than an eight year term and make an amendment that the justices can no longer re-interpret the Constitution, but uphold the laws as it was written and intended by the original framers.
So, the bottom line is this: unless the American people get the undivided attention of those in government…when you and your family members are homeless and hungry or at the very least jobless…remember, you have only yourselves to blame.
THE ONLY WAY TO INSURE THAT YOUR FUTURE REPRESENTATIVES WILL LISTEN TO ITS CONSTITUENTS IS VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS!!! FROM THAT POINT ON, EACH REPRESENTATIVE MUST KNOW WE WILL VOTE THEM OUT AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL WE HAVE RESPONSIBLE REPRESENTATIVES THAT UNDERSTAND THEY ARE THERE FOR THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
Report Post »Contrarianthinker
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 7:36pmAs an old fogie, I can only shake my head at this growth in non face to face contact. If I caught anyone text messaging during my class, they were asked to leave. A second time, I dropped them from the class. My grown up children will actaually text message while sitting there during a conversation. Just call me atupid for caring about courtesy. Some advances in technolgy are great.. this is NOT one of them
Report Post »CADINO
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 12:57pmI noticed that they also did that at the One Nation rally this weekend. The camera panned to show people whipping out their phones and following orders…
Report Post »Julie2010
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 10:05amCARNAHAN CERTIFIES PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS AND SEVEN INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES FOR NOVEMBER BALLOT
Report Post »Jefferson City, Missouri – Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan today certified the results of the August 3, 2010 Primary Election at her office in Jefferson City, Missouri. The certified Primary Election results will be used to set the ballot for the November 2, 2010 General Election. To view the official election results, please visit http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/.
Seven independent candidates were also certified to appear on the ballot for the November 2, 2010 General Election. The following candidates submitted a sufficient number of valid signatures to be certified as independent candidates:
United States House of Representatives District 8: Larry Bill
Missouri State Senate District 4: Nick P. Gartelos
Missouri House of Representatives District 69: Yolanda Austin
Missouri House of Representatives District 90: Charles Smith II
Missouri House of Representatives District 115: Randy Dinwiddie
Missouri House of Representatives District 138: Steven L. Reed
Missouri House of Representatives District 143: Michael Chipman
Independent candidates for the Missouri House of Representatives, the Missouri State Senate and the United States House of Representatives must submit valid signatures of registered voters in the district equal to at least two percent of the total number of votes cast in the last election in that district.
– 30 –
To find out more about Missouri‘s Secretary of State’s office, visit http://www.sos.mo.gov
KansasPatriot
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 10:05amTells you the kind of voters Robin wants to attract. She and her entire family are on the take for whatever they can get. Look at her brothers; Russ Carnahan supported an earmark that sent more than 2 million dollars to brother Tom’s wind-farm project. I thought that was called graft. Russ and Robin both supported and excused that “family income.”
Report Post »Julie2010
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 9:51amRobin in Santa FE “ We’re goin’ to also have a Libertarian and a Constitution Party Candidate running. And I will tell you, no one is going to know who they are, but it’s not going to matter, because Glenn Beck says you’re ( Robin: laughter) supposed to be for The Constitution and there is some percentage of people who will go vote for them. And in our internal poling, about 6 or 7 % (finger snaps) goes like that, to the Libertarian and Constitution Party. So, I’m quite sure, that whoever wins gonna do it with less than 50 percent of the vote….”
Report Post »printdesignchicago.com
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 10:05ammore of that ‘homer simpson’ assumption they have… boy are they in for a rude awakening
REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER!!!!
Report Post »Julie2010
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 10:18amHere is the audio to Robin’s quote I posted, just in case you want to hear it for yourself.
Robin Carnahan’s Debate Strategy
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7VL0hEjHYg&feature=player_embedded
Waiting4George
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 9:19amHoney, if you’re doing what a random sign in a public restroom tells you to do it, you deserve the consequences.
Report Post »printdesignchicago.com
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 9:08ami’ve never sent a text message with a cell phone. how would you text an incumbent to tell them: “YOU’RE FIRED” ?
heheheheh – >:D
Report Post »Dustyluv
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 7:58amSkip the middleman…Just Flush Robin…
Report Post »Sunnyr
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 3:09amThese people are so desperate, look for them to use any and all dirty tricks and even voter fraud this year. Gloria Allred has already started her slimy campaign against Meg Whitman. Alan (maggot) Grayson has made some very deceiving ads against his opponent. DemocRATS are shameless crooks, liars, commies and fraudsters.
Thank goodness I am a RECOVERED Democrat of 13 years. I don’t recognize the old party any more.
Report Post »DaytonConserve
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 2:38amIn Ohio and many other states, last day to register to be able to vote on November 2nd is today, Monday, October 4th. Preserve your liberty.
Report Post »GrassRootBeer
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 1:46amDesperate Dems Hire E-Thugs too. They PAY thugs to harass conservatives via Twitter. They use social media to harass, threaten, provoke, intimidate, verbally assault with hate-speech anyone (and their children).
http://gregwhoward.com/wordpress/2010/09/desperate-dems-hire-e-thugs/
(This blogger is attacked on a daily basis and had the fortitude to document and screenshot the assaults by extreme leftist social network “community organizer” who is actually HIRED by Dem campaigns. website: http://progressivepst.com/ )
Unbelievable. This guy & the Dems who hire him need to be exposed.
Report Post »SandyfromChesterfield
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 1:44amI am sure that George Soros is paying to send out Carnahan’s text messages. Funny how she is the only candidate that wasn’t aware of what her campaign staff was doing. She meant to say what MoveOn.org. was doing.
Report Post »LUDWIKA BRONISLAWA
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 1:39amWell what WILL they think of next?! That’s why my cell phone number is a closely guarded secret.
Report Post »DaytonConserve
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 2:39amIn Ohio and many other states, last day to register to be able to vote on November 2nd is today, Monday, October 4th. Preserve your liberty.
Report Post »BehindBlueEyes
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 4:19amPoliticians are masters of manipulating the masses.
Report Post »t00nces2
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 6:23amGotta love the Dems. Leave it to them to put their numbers on restroom walls.
Hope everything comes out alright and we get to flush ‘em!
Remember in November!
Report Post »Skwerl E. Muckenfutch
Posted on October 4, 2010 at 10:11amlast day to register to vote in NJ is October 12….it takes only a second.
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