Is the Technology Bandwagon a Gimmick?

I've long contended that, while bloggers are important, their impact has been exaggerated by the media. As Hotline's On-Call blog reports, other forms of campaign technology are being limned as mere press gimmickry:

Zack Exley, who worked on John Kerry's '04 presidential campaign and managed Internet operations for the '05 re-election campaign of the British Labour Party, notes there is "a key distinction" between text messaging as a communications tool that individuals use in their daily lives and as a tool for campaigns and organizations to mobilize their members and supporters.

Although he declined to disclose specific numbers, Exley contends text messaging played a role in the party's win, but not because of the actual technology. Exley labels the use of text messaging in campaigns as "press gimmicks" only designed "to get journalists writing that they are doing cool stuff with technology." In turn, it gets campaigns "in the news" and the attention of voters. Exley says that passing a clipboard around at an event to collect contact information would be just as effective, if not more so, and cost less money. Further, he proposes using text messaging "on a very micro level" within the campaign for purposes such as notifying volunteers of a meeting time change -- not for an initiative that requires expenditures. Exley: "Campaigns join the technological bandwagon only because they worry about being left behind."