AL GORE may claim a share of the credit for getting the Internet started, but Sen. Barack Obama is using the technology -- particularly the handy BlackBerry he keeps attached to his belt -- to chat up everyone from celebrities to campaign workers.
He frequently exchanges witty e-mails with his pal George Clooney and with celebs, such as Scarlett Johansson, who have been busy working for him on the campaign trail, according to those close to the campaign and the celebrities.
Billionaire Ron Burkle, the Dem's Beverly Hills Medici and longtime friend of the Clintons, recently recalled how he and Obama found themselves at the Las Vegas airport at the same time (even private jets have to land somewhere). Burkle, who spends a bit of time on the BlackBerry himself, whipped out the device and decided to text-message Obama just to see if he'd respond. (Sure enough, he did. Almost immediately.)
Of course, there are levels of access. People like Burkle and Clooney, a longtime friend and supporter, have the clout to get the cyber equivalent of face time with the candidate, whose facility with the BlackBerry almost matches that of a Hollywood agent.
Johansson recently told Politico's Jeffrey Ressner that she e-mailed Obama after the ABC debate to congratulate him on "holding his own" against what many considered irrelevant questions by the panel of TV journalists. He responded immediately, saying he was being pounded by "one silly question after another."
She was surprised by the rapidity of the response and his willingness to engage in an e-mail exchange about the debate. "You'd imagine that someone like the senator who is constantly traveling and constantly 'on' -- how can he return these personal e-mails?" she told Ressner. "But he does, and in his off-time I know he also calls people who have donated the minimum to thank them. Nobody sees it, nobody talks about it, but it's incredible."
She added, "I feel like I'm supporting someone, and having a personal dialogue with them, and it's amazing."
Local Obama activist Bernard Parks Jr. is part of an e-mail circle that receives regular updates from Obama himself, and the candidate has been known to send thank-you e-mails to campaign workers after particularly successful events.
"All of his stuff seems really personal," said Parks, who is going to the convention with his father, Los Angeles Councilman Bernard C. Parks, an Obama delegate.
