How the iPad can be used on a political campaign

The website Killer Campaigning touched very briefly on this topic so I’m picking up the ball and running with it.

I want one of these things so badly. Not just to play Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (though I would, all day) but because I can put it to good use for my candidates and campaigns. Politicians are already putting it to use.

At events, my laptop is always with me along with my SLR still camera and at least a Flip if not my DVX100. That’s a lot of stuff to be working at once but I make it work. Having an iPad instead of a laptop would allow me to tweet and live blog much easier from the riser as I won’t have to be juggling a bulky laptop. (I love that laptops are now bulky. Bring on the holograms!)

This was going to be a post where I just make a list of applications and ho hum hope to get some traffic, but then I remembered my Minnesota quasi-counterpart Dusty Trice has an iPad so I figured I’d ring him up on the Skype machine and ask him about it. I got those apps and a lot more.

Check it out:

List of apps discussed:

• MyCongress – Get information about any member of Congress instantly.
• WordPress – The best website/blogging platform EVER.
• Dragon Dictation – This idea never even crossed my mind but I’ll be taking advantage of it. Slap an iPhone/iPad on the podium and fire up this ad as your speech begins. Especially if you go off the cuff you can go back later and look at what works and what doesn’t.
• MiniVAN – Very clever name for a product I hope expands. It’s a mobile version of the Voter Activation Network.
• Pages – Apple’s word processor.
• Numbers – Apple’s spreadsheet program.

So have you used the iPad in another way for a campaign? Any apps we missed? Comment!

Tagged as: Apple, campaign, interview, iPad