Mobile messaging played a huge role in the 2008 presidential election, and there’s no reason for its popularity to wane in 2009. On election day, a record-breaking 1.4 billion mobile messages will be sent, according to a new report by VeriSign.

The Washington Post calls it “the participatory inaugural.” The Obama campaign wants to keep its young, mobile-savvy audience involved with the political process. Using the mobile platform to reach their younger audience is key.

“You don’t have to brave the crowds and commotion in order to participate in this celebration, because we’ve made this Inauguration open and accessible to communities across our nation,” Obama says in his latest YouTube video release. “Just text the word ‘open’ to 56333 for news, transportation updates, and ways you can participate.”

Compare the upcoming inauguration day’s 1.4 billion messages to election day numbers: on Nov. 4, 803 million messages were caried over VeriSign’s network. The internet infastructure company estimates mobile messaging to increase by approximately 15 percent on the day that Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden take the oath of office.

VeriSign releases a quarterly Mobile Messaging Index that summarizes total traffic volume by measuring the number of A2P/P2P mobile messages (SMS, MMS) the company handles each day. VeriSign’s Q4 2008 and Year End 2008 Mobile Messaging Index is expected in February 2009.