Barack Obama promised supporters he would tell them his VP pick before anyone else if only they would hand over their cell phone number and agree to download five ringtones a month for the low price of $9.99*. (* This last part is not true.)

Too bad the Times and the rest of the MSM broke news that Joe Biden was Obama's choice before anyone received their super-special 3 a.m. text from Team Obama. That, and pranksters managed to fool some into thinking Michael Phelps and Mickey Mouse was Obama's running mate, thanks to 1) the ease of sending texts; and 2) the gullibility of Americans.

When the text finally did go out, a whopping 2.9 million people got Obama's note, which would've cost the average thumb puncher some $290,000, assuming a 10 cent-per-TXT fee. Maybe Barack got a discount; maybe he had a bunch of people in his campaign send out the message and then let them use it as a tax write-off.

But having been beat by the press and been subjected to devious hoaxes, one might argue Obama's cell phone gimmick became a poorly orchestrated publicity stunt. Nope, it was so much more

The value of the message goes far beyond the 26 words and 2.9 million recipients. Here, Obama branded himself as cutting edge, inflated the already enormous press attention paid to his V.P. pick and further established a list of supporters' most coveted form of contact: their cell phone numbers. [Cnet]

Did we mention PayPal can also move cash via cell phone?