Republican White House hopefuls are well into their campaigning as they try to win over voters to take on President Barack Obama in the 2012’s presidential election. With more than a handful of candidates, it’s hard to keep track of the latest debates, polls, and campaign news.

The New York Times released a new app on Dec. 7 for the iPhone offering news, polling data, candidate information, and when the time comes, live election results.

Fiona Spruill, editor, emerging platforms at The New York Times, said the paper is prepping for a technology-focused election. “Mobile – and more broadly, phone and tablet – is going to be a huge way that people consume news about the election,” Spruill told the Guardian.

“We wanted to try to do something innovative and different. It’s definitely aimed towards an audience that is extremely interested in political news. We hope people will be checking back multiple times a day,” said Spruill. 

The NYTimes Election 2012 app for the iPhone (News - Alert)/iPod touch includes six political stories today. Stories you enjoy can be easily shared with other users using SMS, Twitter, Facebook, or email. However, the app does come at a cost.

NYTimes plus the smartphone app will cost you around $14.99 per month. If you only have digital access to the NYTimes on one of your devices, then you are looking at paying more like $34.99 per month.

Your subscription does gain you access to: The Caucus Blog, a blog that analyzes the latest news on politics and government from Washington and around the country and FiveThirtyEight, a group devoted to rigorous analysis of politics, polling, public affairs, sports, science and culture, largely through statistical means, and content from The Times’ Opinion pages.

Spruill said adding content beyond the newspapers content was essential. “Our own journalism is really the anchor to this app, but we’re also adding this element of handpicking the other articles, videos and tweets that we think are the most important if you want to be well-read political news consumer,” said Spruill.

Spruill has been working on emerging platforms since the beginning of 2011 and said this is first time The Times has ever appointed a full-time editor for an online mobile application. “We were trying to create the best possible experience for people on their phones, and it takes people to do that,” she says. “What we were trying to provide was not something that could be delivered to an algorithm, even though there are many smart algorithms out there,” said Spruill.

The app is free to download and currently be found in iTunes.