Politicians on Twitter - Tweeting the people

Feb 12th 2009 | AUSTIN
From The Economist print edition

An internet craze reaches Congress

ON A recent evening John Culberson, a Republican congressman from Texas, used the micro-blogging service Twitter to field a dozen comments from around the country. He told a panicked man in Wisconsin not to be too frightened about the economic crisis: America would pull through. He told another follower that he wanted public hearings on the stimulus package, but that Nancy Pelosi was standing in the way. A man from Arizona wanted to know: PC or Mac? PC, said Mr Culberson; he missed his Mac, but the federal government plumps for Windows.

When politicians say they want to talk to their constituents, it is often a polite fiction. But dozens of men and women in Congress have discovered that they can use Twitter to keep in touch. Pete Hoekstra, a Republican representative from Michigan, recently caused Congress’s first “twitterversy” when he tweeted that he was in Baghdad, which struck some critics as a security risk.

Most politicians tweet to promote themselves. They (or their staffers) use the service to distribute press releases and friendly editorials. But others have embraced the informal nature of the medium. Claire McCaskill, a Democratic senator from Missouri, offers a good mix of thoughts on policy, political titbits, and personal asides. “Compromise had to happen or we would NOT have 60 votes. Period,” she tweeted during negotiations over the stimulus bill. Earlier she described some hungry politicians: “Hysterical. Swarming Senators around candy drawer in back of Chamber.”

Mrs McCaskill comes across like a friendly and candid citizen legislator. But whereas more than 4,000 people “follow” her, she follows only one person herself. In that respect she lags behind people like Mr Culberson, who use their Twitter accounts to talk to people.

More Republicans are twittering than Democrats. Wynn Netherland, who co-founded the tracking site TweetCongress.com, theorises that this is because Republicans are in the minority. Perhaps their frustration has spurred them to take their case to the public. As long as they are not just squawking into the void.

For full article: http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13109717