The Obama campaign in October 2008 was the first to create an app in a national race. The free Obama08 iPhone app offered news feeds, a list of Obama's positions, and a way to organize contacts to help supporters call friends in crucial electoral districts. Since then, smartphones - from iPhone to Android and Blackberry, have become the latest outreach frontier for candidates seeking national, state, and even local office.
Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), California Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman, have launched smart phone applications within the past month. Others, such as former Republican Senate candidate Chuck DeVore (R-CA) and CA-33 Democratic candidate Felton Newell got on the board with their apps at the beginning of 2010.
Minnesota congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (R-MN 6) on Friday rolled out her iPhone app providing campaign updates, voter registration information, and a countdown to election day. Within minutes, some of her 72,000-plus Facebook fans were clamoring for the campaign to make it available on other smartphone platforms."
The iPhone is the big ticket when it comes to smartphones, certainly when in terms of impact on popular culture. I think it was probably a smart move if you're going to go with an app for one system to choose the iPhone."
11.9 percent of registered voters are iPhone or iPad users, according to a study conducted by consumer intelligence tracker BIGresearch. Blackberry users weigh in at a respectable 14.3 percent, and Droid users comprise 4.6 percent.
Democrats, the study says, are more likely to use new media or social media than Republicans or Independents.
