Politics and Technology

Mitt Romney is more of a clean-cut “square” (in 1960s lingo), while Barack Obama is more “cool.” Yet, both are using Square and other cutting-edge technology to raise money for their presidential campaigns.

Obama’s campaign staff was apparently first to use mobile phones to collect donations via Square mobile credit card readers, according to a report from Politico. To take the donations, they used an iPhone or Android (News - Alert) OS phone, Politico says. Obama's 2008 campaign used social media too and was seen as breaking new ground with voters.

Not to be outdone, Romney's campaign announced on Tuesday it would use Square for fundraising in Florida and then elsewhere. "We have plans to roll it out nationally but right now we're using Square just in Florida as a sort of beta test," Zac Moffatt, Romney campaign's digital director, told The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. In fact, the Romney campaign may develop a unique app compatible with Square, so it could download it to a smartphone and a supporter could make a donation or collect donations for the campaign, according to the LA Times.

"Ease of use is a big part of why we're using Square," Moffatt told The LA Times. "We're always looking to get as close to one touch donations as we can."

Square usage by the Romney campaign is now just via the iPhone (News - Alert). Android could be used later, The LA Times adds.

The campaign was to use the Square technology during the campaign’s victory party following the Florida Republican primary. It was to be used for selling merchandise and raising funds, Moffatt told the newspaper before the event.

"We have a lot faith this could be something pretty powerful for us moving forward," Moffatt added in the interview. "The challenge on this sort of thing is never with the technology, it's with the compliance. We're making sure everything we're doing follows fundraising rules and is compliant with the FEC [Federal Election Commission] and that it works well. So, for now, were just focusing on making it all work on this smaller scale, but we'd like to scale this out in time, the right way."

On the plus side, Square is seen as saving time by more quickly processing donations, according to Politico.

In the larger arena, Square has been used by smaller retailers as an alternative to well-known credit cards, such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express (News - Alert), according to a report carried on TMCnet.

In a related matter, on Tuesday Romney’s campaign started an online donation drive to raise $1 million. Then, on Wednesday, Obama’s campaign began its own online effort to raise $2 million. It raised a million dollars for the incumbent president in less than a day, Mashable reported. And in the afternoon on Thursday, the Obama fundraising site had raised over $1.2 million from 30,895 donors, Mashable adds. That compares to the Romney site reaching a million dollars at about the same time on Thursday. It raised about $600,000 in its first day of fundraising, news reports add.

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