When CNN began reporting the selection of Sen. Joseph Biden as Sen. Barack Obama’s running mate based on a “flurry of activity” at Biden’s home, many people — those who’d signed up to receive an exclusive text message about Obama’s choice — were perplexed. Widely hailed as a tech-savvy campaign move, the execution of the Obama campaign’s running-mate announcement via text message left the candidate open to criticism, but little came.

The message was scheduled to be released Saturday, Aug. 23, at 8:00 a.m. EDT, but instead went out just after 3 a.m. EDT. CNN began reporting the selection, first online and then on-air, late in the evening of the preceding day.

“Had a certain network not blown our cover at a certain time the text message would have gone out in the morning, 8 a.m. Eastern,” senior Obama adviser Robert Gibbs said network.

On the social network Twitter where news and information junkies abound, the complaints started fast and furious. Jon Gordon, host of the technology radio show Future Tense viewed the situation as bad news for Obama.

“Gotta say, this whole VP annc by text mssg thing seems to have been botched,” Gordon posted to Twitter, abbreviating to accommodate the services 140-character limitations. “Now it looks not only gimmicky but a lie.”

Asked by this reporter whether it was the fault of the Obama campaign or the news organization that reported based on cars in Biden’s driveway, Gordon responded that the Obama campaign “should have anticipated the MSM would get story if it delayed annc as long as it did.”

Gordon was not alone in his estimation, but strong criticism of the candidate appears largely isolated to blogs and Twitter as the mainstream media glossed over the story. Despite being scooped on its own story and the fact that many who signed up for the text message still have yet to receive it the Wall Street Journal reported that “the campaign appeared to have largely pulled off the feat.”

Working in Obama’s favor was the fact that CNN broke the story late on a Friday night when relatively few viewers were tuning in.