Just a few months ago I mentioned -- tongue in cheek -- that .mobi changed the course of politics in Australia. The shorthand version is that incumbent John Howard lost to Kevin Rudd, who had a mobile site called kevin07.mobi (although I think it's now gone post-election).
And now it's America's turn: meet obamamobile.mobi ... and I like what I'm seeing. I'm being apolitical when I say that; my only politics are in regards to the site's design and features: SMS interaction, voting interaction, videos, ringtones, wallpapers, text alerts, etc. It's a "destinaton" mobile web site that embraces what a mobile phone can do and the developers created an experience to reflect a few of the possibilities that are unique to mobile. It doesn't merely duplicate the campaign's PC-based web site.
As far as I can tell, John McCain doesn't have a mobile site but in the interest of balance, his PC site is at http://www.johnmccain.com. And I give that site big points for a good segmentation strategy: you can choose to be a supporter, undecided or unregistered voter. (I'm not seeing a huge difference in hat content is delivered to each segment but I think the idea of segmenting that way is solid). If his campaign does have a mobile site, please let me know.
Now I can't say whether the ".mobi factor" will tip the scales this November as it did in Australia last year, but it will make for interesting watching over the next few months.
