Barack the Gossip

This was the e-mail I received from the Barack Obama Internet marketing machine:

Dear Mark --

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:

http://my.barackobama.com/vp

You will receive an email the moment Barack makes his decision, or you can text VP to 62262 to receive a text message on your mobile phone.



Is it me, or is this taking a leaf from the entertainment and gossip world? The notion of text updates from your favorite celeb (albeit a political one) is not out of place in the world of People magazine, but if you are going to bring people back into politics, why not adapt the methods of other media genres?