Deeds vs. McDonnell: Tweets don't fail now

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By Sarah Abruzzese

One Twitters his music playlist. The other Twitters multiplatform requests for money and supporters.

They are the candidates for governor of Virginia, a state with one of the highest Internet penetrations, and they aren't shy about Twittering, Facebooking, texting and YouTubing their message to the cell phones, computers and PDAs of potential voters.

The tactics aren't new. "New media" figured prominently in the 2008 presidential election, but it is unknown how many voters actually cast ballots because of Twitter -- a social-networking phenomenon whose users can post mini-updates, or "Tweets," in 140 or fewer characters. Whether Virginia voters will be swayed because they like the fact that state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds listens to Bruce Springsteen or that his Republican opponent, former state Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell, keeps a more stately tone remains to be seen.

In an era when politicians often appear only in packaged sound bites and are savaged for not being tech-savvy, Mr. Deeds is constantly posting mini-updates or Tweets and allowing the unfettered personal access that only Twitter provides. His Republican opponent has staffers who send periodic updates on his "bobmcdonnell" account.

The Republican joined Twitter in May 2008, while the Democrat, who writes under "CreighDeeds," is a relatively new convert, signing up in February. Accordingly, Mr. McDonnell has about twice as many followers as Mr. Deeds.

Both campaigns have hired media gurus from the 2008 presidential election. Mr. McDonnell is even using the same telephone texting company as President Obama, while Mr. Deeds has hired the man behind Mr. Obama's texting campaign.

Kate Sokolov, the new-media director for the Deeds campaign, said the goal is to use every medium available to deliver the maximum amount of information about the candidate. The campaign also is using Facebook and texting. But the response on Twitter increased exponentially once Mr. Deeds began issuing Tweets himself.

Mr. Deeds said he Twitters between meetings or on lunch breaks. "I don't Twitter that much," he said, but noted that his new-media team thought he would set himself apart by personally Twittering.

During his presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, was pounded for technology ignorance. Since returning to the Senate, he has taken up Twitter and sends updates daily, sometimes hourly. As of Wednesday, "SenJohn McCain" had 966,513 followers, as the people who are signed up to read his posts are called.

To younger followers, Tweets from Mr. Deeds, 51, might give the image of an out-of-touch dad. "I know its only rock and roll but I like it," he responded to Aimee on June 7 to thank her for her endorsement.