Don't get me wrong. I've voted in every election since I turned 18, but this 2009 election is the first cycle where I felt social media and mobile technology played a significant role in motivating me to vote at the polls.

My case in point is how the Bob McDonnell for Governor campaign in Virginia has helped me through the voting process this fall, text by text.

It all started about a month ago with this:

Don't forget today is the last day to register to vote in VA. Tell your friends, family, neighbors if they need to register go to...

And then a couple weeks later:

REMINDER! Election Day is only one week away. To find your polling place to vote for Bob next Tuesday, please visit...

And then yesterday:

Don't forget, Election Day is tomorrow! Find your polling place to vote for Bob McDonnell TOMORROW, please visit...

And now this morning:

Good Morning Bob McDonnell Supporters! Polls are now open, so don't forget to get out there and vote today! For info on where to vote go to www.Bob4VA.com

It's like a virtual cup of coffee in my hand.

In other words, a text message is akin to the little pep talk all voters need to get them out the door and to the polling place, before even showing up for work in the morning.

While it's still to be determined, GOTV is probably the #1 use for mobile technology in a state-wide campaign. 

I know first-hand how hard it is to push & pull folks to the polls as a lowly field director during the 2006 cycle.

You have moms who are just trying to get through the day and aren't sure if they're going to make it to the polls 2 hours before the fact. You have diehard supporters who say they're going to come out and vote, but at the end of the day, forget to.

Your average voter and even your strongest supporters need a helping hand to lead them through the process.

But surely, mobile is not the be-all and end-all.

You still need to make phone calls, you still need boots on the ground knocking on doors. You need email and you need voter mail. You need friend-to-friend conversation.

But at the end of the day - for voters like me who don't have a land line phone - For voters who don't meticulously go through their snail mail, because we get all of our important statements online...

We appreciate the mobile push.

We are millenials and we're coming out to vote more and more each cycle.

And just think - we are going to make up the majority of the voting population in the near future.

Why not embrace the technology right now, text by text? 

Thanks to Gen X, there are a lot of misconceptions about young voters.

If you're in your twenties, you've undoubtedly heard the mantra, "But young people don't vote" from strategists and pundits. Those of us under 30 know that this isn't true, but anecdotal stories from our own trips to the polls aren't that helpful.

Rock the Vote, which recently teamed up with Young Voter Strategies, released a helpful fact sheet on the voting trends of those under 29.

This is particularly relevant to Republicans since many of the tight elections in 2006 were won by Democrats, who ran young voter outreach programs. According to Rock the Vote:

• Montana: Tester defeated Burns by 3,562 votes; 18-29 turnout was up by 39,106 votes over 2002.
• Virginia: Webb defeated Allen by 9,329 votes; 18-29 turnout was up by 110,453 votes over 2002.
• Missouri: McCaskill defeated Talent by 48,314 votes, 18-29 turnout was up by 108,269 votes.
• CT-02: Joe Courtney won by 83 votes; turnout at the UConn polling place was up nearly 10x that.

A new generation is now voting, and they're very different from Boomers and Xers. They're willing to vote and work, especially in tight elections. However, Millennials need to be asked and invited. We're the generation that grew up with targeted marketing. Shouldn't politics be targeted towards us as well?

Bravo's ad in the Cynopsis daily newsletter this morning is a strong example of how to use Berry and Keller's The Influentials. While the ads exist to promote their TV and web programming, they represent exactly how campaigns need to microsegment and target potential voters.

   

The Affluencers display the multi-demensional view that campaigns should take. Voters consume news and entertainment across many mediums and points in their day. For the Millenials, life and the web are one thing. Campaigns need to analyze their voters from all perspectives and see where they can target messages on the voter's preferred medium.

This can be done on the local level too. Combining voter files with Census information and tools such as Claritas' Market Segmentation allows any campaign to paint a vivid picture of who they need to reach.