Political ads on your iPhone -- Yes there's an app for that too

As the midterm primary election nears, candidates will intensify their campaign's message using every outlet possible -- TV, radio and the Internet.
Now you can also find political campaigns on your smartphone; yes, there's an app for that.

The early voting period for this year's midterm primaries kicked off this week.
We've already been inundated with political TV ads -- now, campaigns are also using social media to get their message across.

For example, Congressman Adam Putnam's iPhone app called iPutnam brings up the latest news about Mr. Putnam and his quest to be the next Commissioner of Agriculture.
You'll also be able to connect to his social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter feeds.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, Putnam was the first one in Florida to have an app for his campaign.
Experts in the app world say many politicians are likely to follow suit.

"I think most of the folks who are running serious campaigns will have that this campaign season," said Mark Stetler, CEO of Cen App.

Then there's the hotly contested race for the U.S. Senate.
Candidates showed early on that they'll do whatever it takes to get your vote, and now both Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio have apps too.

"I put it on my Facebook page and then all of my Facebook friends see it or tweet about it on my Twitter page and all my friends hear about it," said Stetler. "So it's not only the connection; it's the viral effect and the effect it can have in raising funds."

Mark Stetler is the CEO of Cen App, a company that pairs app developers with people who want to create a smartphone app.
He said it'll probably cost a candidate about $15,000 to have fully social media integrated apps created for iPhone and Android.  Stetler said it's a drop in the bucket considering political campaigns today are spending millions on TV advertisement alone.

Political campaign apps really were born in the 2008 presidential election.
If you're wondering who was the first politician with an iPhone app -- according to various reports including PBS, it was President Barack Obama.