Obama, Romney agree on one thing: Texting is good

Posted 11 months, 15 days ago.

By NCC Staff

It’s unlikely you’ll get Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to agree on a lot when it comes to the presidential race , but both candidates’ campaigns have  lauded an FEC decision for the digital age.

The Federal Election Commission ruled late Monday that the candidates can solicit donations via text messaging from mobile devices and the Web.

The donations will be treated as anonymous donations, since people will use a short code to send in an amount up to $50, for each phone number used.

Companies that collect the donations would forward up to 70 percent to the candidates, says The Wall Street Journal, and keep the rest to cover costs.

A similar plan was floated two years ago but rejected by the FEC, due to worries about tracking the donations. The new plan met the FEC’s concerns.

Small donations played a key role in the successful elections of Obama in 2008 and George W. Bush in 2004.

In the current election cycle, the Romney and Obama camps have claimed success with support from small donors.

In an article on WNYC’s web site, Stephen Reader does the math, and shows how both sides are claiming small-donor victories.

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