Obama campaign skilled at using technology to reach out, raise funds

By BRIAN C. MOONEY
Boston Globe
Published on: 02/25/08

COLUMBUS, Ohio — When George Goodburn of Upper Arlington got an e-mail 12 days ago announcing an organizational meeting for Barack Obama's presidential campaign the next night in nearby Columbus, he was fired up and ready to go.

Arriving at a plumbers' union hall to meet campaign officials, however, Goodburn was stunned. "Five hundred people showed up on 24 hour's notice," he said. "It was incredible."

More than any previous presidential campaign, Obama's effort is transforming politics with its use of technology. The astounding fund-raising figures are well documented - the campaign keeps a running tally on its website as it closes in on 1 million donors. But Obama's team has taken the use of the Internet to another level by allowing masses of volunteers to self-organize over the past year and communicate through their own social networking site, my.barackobama.com.

Created with help from Chris Hughes, one of three Harvard roommates who invented Facebook four years ago, MyBO, as campaign staffers call it, has about 500,000 members nationwide, a network of groups and individuals that the campaign ultimately harnesses for the old-fashioned nuts-and-bolts of electioneering - identifying supporters and getting them to vote in primaries and caucuses.

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