by John McCormick
Although not as coveted as Marriott Rewards points or United Airlines frequent flier miles, the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama is trying to establish its own loyalty program with "My Points."
Started several weeks ago, the initiative is designed to reward those who take actions that help the campaign, such as hosting an event for supporters or making calls from home as part of a do-it-yourself phone bank program.
For now, however, there is no reward routinely offered, even as thousands of online supporters rack up points.
"There is no pot at the end of the rainbow," said Chris Hughes, a co-founder of the hot social networking site Facebook and the campaign's online organizer. "We probably will at some point run a special initiative...where they get to have some type of reward."
Hughes said the points system is primarily meant as a way for supporters to measure in a daily way the impact they are having on the campaign for the Illinois Democrat.
A few of the ways supporters can earn points: march in a parade (25), sign a supporter card or convince another voter to do so (50), or help with a phone bank (50 points).
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Comments
Enough of the cutesy campaign stuff. Let them start up a game show and go away. Just have the candidate tell us where he stands on the issues.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | October 22, 2007 6:51 AM
This Obama is surely a hyped up egomaniac. How many points do I get for supporting his opponents?
Posted by: wallace | October 22, 2007 7:23 AM
"Enough of the cutesy campaign stuff. Let them start up a game show and go away. Just have the candidate tell us where he stands on the issues."
You're not going to find that on the Swamp, lochnessmonster. You can find stuff in other sources, but the Swamp is just dribble.
Posted by: AC | October 22, 2007 9:19 AM
Might as well be giving out Green Stamps.
Get enough Obama points and win a TV set. Can this campaign get any longer or any more ridiculous?
Posted by: Garrison | October 22, 2007 10:06 AM
I'm not an Obama supporter, but this is an innovative way to get people involved with the process. I think we need more ideas like this, anything that gets people involved is ultimately a good thing.
Posted by: Paul | October 22, 2007 10:37 AM
It is a simple way of gauging the grass roots movement. If you are working for Obama and you have a dashboard on his site, like a hundred something thousand volunteers do, you can see where you stand. Opponents of Obama would be better off if they learned about him. Invariably they are misinformed, emotional and irrational. Maybe with some knowledge they will then want to rack up their own points.
Posted by: jdr | October 22, 2007 12:05 PM
As an Obama supporter, I really like it because people are motivated to post articles about Obama to their blogs (which I find quite informative), hold events, and register new voters.
Go Obama!
Posted by: Prantha | October 22, 2007 1:58 PM
If carrying a sign is worth 50 points, placing an Obama-friendly story in the Swamp must be wroth 500 points. By these standards, Swamp reporter John McCormick has already earned a 10,000 "Obama points" for McCormick's efforts on Obama's behalf.
Posted by: Bruce | October 22, 2007 2:49 PM
Hmm, I wonder if the MyPoints.com loyalty program know about this. When I first glanced at this article I wondered why MyPoints.com was getting involved in a political campaign. If I was confused, I'm sure others could be as well.
Great way to get yourself elected, Obama -- by taking advantage of the reputation of a well-known (6 million member) online loyalty program.
Posted by: Becky | October 22, 2007 5:46 PM
"Get to campaigning"? [clear throat] Ahem, calling voters, signing up voters as committed and counting votes, volunteering, doing outreach, increasing visibility for the campaign, are actually part of campaigning. Did you think campaigning was just on television lochnessmonster? No wonder the country's a mess!
Posted by: VCubed | October 22, 2007 11:57 PM
Does anyone else remember collecting Green Stamps?
jus' askin' .....
Posted by: O.T. Hill | December 11, 2008 11:50 AM
Mr. Obama's minions are so interested in earning points so they can brag to each other, they have lost all objectiveness. No matter how wrong anything he does they find a way to white wash it. Not one of them has done thier own research on the man. They learn everthing about him from hims canned preprogramed talking points.
Posted by: MR. J | December 11, 2008 1:05 PM