The hidden camera recording of Mitt Romney at a private fundraiser proves the smart phone is changing politics and, if you’re looking for another example, Monday’s Paul Ryan fundraiser here in Indianapolis will do.

There was a pool reporter inside the Ryan fundraiser but it was otherwise closed to the media.  That means there were no professional photographers inside.  The were, however, a lot of amateur shutterbugs, including Steve Lowry, a real estate developer in Yorktown.   “I was excited to be with Vice Presidential nominee Ryan and wanted to share it with my family and friends,” said Lowry who added, “there was a lot of individuals taking video and still pictures.”

Mitt Romney is engaged in damage control now for the comments captured on a smart phone and Steve Lowry understands the problem.  24 years ago he worked on the Vice President campaign of Dan Quayle.  You know, you had old cameras… that as soon as you came in you knew you were being filmed,” he says. “Today you have pocket cameras that, if you’re not aware of it, you can be instantly recorded.”

He says today’s politicians need to know just one thing.  “Everything that you do now days in a modern campaign is on the record,” he says.  “Even when you’re off the record you’re on the record.”  And someone is recording it.