Obama to reveal his vice-president options by email and text
Barack Obama will reveal his choice for his potential vice-president in an email and text message to supporters, his campaign said today.
The US Democratic presidential hopeful, whose campaign has embraced new media technologies, will send out an email and text alert to supporters as soon as the decision is made.
Mr Obama, aged 47, faces Republican John McCain, a 71-year-old Arizona senator who has admitted he has difficulties using computers, in November’s general election which will decide who will be the 44th president of the United States.
In an email to supporters, David Plouffe, Mr Obama’s campaign manager, wrote: “Barack Obama is about to make one of the most important decisions of this campaign – choosing a running mate.
“You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be the first to know his choice.
“Sign up today to be the first to know.
“Once you’ve signed up, please forward this email to your friends, family, and co-workers to let them know about this special opportunity.
“No other campaign has done this before. You can be part of this important moment.
“Be the first to know who Barack selects as his running mate.”
The electronic sign-up sheet also appeared to be an effort to expand the campaign’s electronic mailing list ahead of the general election.
The Obama campaign set fundraising records earlier this year during the US primary election season, in part through its use of new media technologies.
Mr Obama, who is on holiday in Hawaii this week, is expected to reveal his choice for vice president before the party’s national convention begins in Denver, Colorado, on August 25.
Party officials said today that the convention’s themes would stress unity, security and change for America.
Both Mr Obama and Mr McCain have taken extreme care to ensure their choice of vice president remains secret until they announce the selection.
US political pundits said the candidates’ vice presidential choice was of particular importance this year.
The right choice could help diffuse criticism in key areas – Mr Obama’s relative lack of experience on the national stage, and Mr McCain’s age which would make him the oldest first-term president in US history.
Today, as Mr McCain called on the Western world to unite in condemnation of Russian attacks on Georgia, Mr Obama – who has also condemned the Russian military action – was on holiday with his family in Hawaii.
His time away from the campaign trail comes as a study showed Mr Obama’s “media dominance may not be working in his favour”.
A poll conducted by the Pew Research Centre found that almost half of those surveyed (48%) said “they have been hearing too much about Obama lately”.
The same study found that “by a slight, but statistically significant margin - 22% to 16% – people say that recently they have a less, rather than more, favourable view of the putative Democratic nominee.”
The pollsters went on: “Pew’s respondents said they want to hear more, not less about the Republican candidate.
“Just 26% in the poll said they had heard too much about McCain, while a larger number (38%) reported that they had heard too little about the putative Republican candidate.”
