Are political wins influenced by behavior and culture?

Just yesterday, I came across this article Obama political campaign last year that won a  reputation for drawing on the tools of social science. What I found most interesting was the part where the article says '...small, voluntary agreement amplifies the likelihood that the person will follow through...' backed by some experiments.

Read on, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Do write back with what you think. Do you know of similar campaigns? How do they work?