Romney campaign entices downloads of mobile app by promising breaking news about his running mate choice

The Romney campaign announced today that those who download the “Mitt’s VP” app for iOS and Android will be the first to know who his choice is for running mate in the upcoming presidential election. The app will push the name of the GOP vice presidential nominee directly to mobile devices as soon as word comes out from Romney campaign headquarters.

“The first official way to learn the name of the Republican vice presidential candidate is by using our new ‘Mitt’s VP’ app,” said Romney digital director Zac Moffatt in a statement. “Users of the app will be the first to get the news on the biggest political decision of the year through an instantaneous alert on the one device most people carry around the clock — their phone.”

This may be a single-use app for those who download it, but it will give a wealth of data to the Romney campaign including cell phone numbers for fundraising, geo-location for targeted campaigning, and the ability to wipe the SD card and internal memory if the election goes south for the team. While it’s doubtful that the campaign would do such a thing, the ability to do so must be given in order to download the app.

Downloading the Obama-Biden campaign app has all of the same requirements and several more.

The likely candidates for the GOP nomination are:

• Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.)
• Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty
• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
• Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal
• Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
• Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
• Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
• Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
• Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell
• Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
• Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)
• New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez
• Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.)