Barack Obama is reaching out to potential voters in the same demographic with a different message: “Text HOPE.” The Wall Street Journal reports.

… “The Obama campaign is using the new medium of text message as way to establish more conventional contact with would-be voters. After texting “HOPE” to the campaign, respondents receive a follow-up message seeking their ZIP Code, which is then used to send local information to potential voters.

In Idaho, those responding to the text-message radio ads are invited to twice-weekly training sessions held at a field office in Boise. There, potential voters are put through the rigors of a mock caucus — but are not prodded to support anyone in particular.

The strategy, at bottom, is to increase the number of people who turn up to vote. “We think a larger turnout helps us,” says Mr. Vietor, the Obama spokesman.

Will text messages work as a means to turn out young voters? A study by researchers at the University of Michigan and Princeton University, using data from the 2006 election, found that text messages to newly registered voters increased the likelihood of voting by 4.2 percentage points.”

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