The Blog

Puffing Obama

11:42 AM, Aug 20, 2008 • By RICHARD STARR
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The 3,000-word puff-piece on Obama's online operation in this morning's Washington Post is beyond tedious. A sample:

Texting is a two-way street, and staffers and volunteers respond to texts from supporters who send questions such as "Where's my polling place?" He wouldn't divulge how many supporters receive texts, but the strategy was effective enough to be used in subsequent contests. "Help Barack get out the vote in Pennsylvania! If you can get to PA between now and 4/22, REPLY to this msg: TVL and your NAME (ex. TVL Ann). Please fwd msg," read a text sent before the Keystone State primary.

Note the casual reference to the candidate ("Barack"); the request to forward ("fwd") the text; and the timing -- the text was sent two weeks before polls opened, giving it plenty of time to be passed around. Says Goodstein, "We've just begun to crack how valuable texting is."

Ahem. Note also what the reporter fails to note: Obama lost that Keystone State primary by 9 points.

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