Is Twitter is about to go negative?
Campaigning, that is. Recent edgy encounters between politicians and pundits on the site – and the propensity for emotions to boil over, particularly right now (see: healthcare reform, etc.) – suggest that it very well could
Perhaps this was an inevitable development. What better way to land that political job than through a pithy 140-character burst?
See: Creigh Deeds (D) v. Bob McDonnell (R) in the VA gubernatorial campaign. A bellwether election, both candidates have been very active in social media, and in the lead-up to yesterday’s debate in McLean, VA the candidates have been jibing back and forth on Twitter. That trend continued during the debate as well.
Having worked in DC for Republicans and Democrats, and having been in Ohio for the 2008 Presidential campaign circuit, I’m no stranger to less-than-positive political back-and-forth. To be clear and fair: what you see further below is NOT “negative campaigning”, explicitly.
It is not on par with the “birther” campaign directed against Barack Obama last fall. Nor is it on the same level as the I-can’t-believe-they-just-unknowingly-made-fun-of-his-war-wounds “computer” ad directed against John McCain at around the same time.
What we profile below is an edgy, aggressive political blitz by the Bob McDonnell campaign against Creigh Deeds during the VA Governor’s debate yesterday. The Deeds campaign has lobbed similar messages (see below), though not as concentrated from a timing standpoint (all sent from @bobmcdonnell within about an hour’s time).
And while these reflect expected political offensive, their presence invariably begs the question: could/will the situation devolve?
Trends in political contests (inevitably, nearly everyone goes negative) and general public knowledge would indicate that it is highly possible, particularly as the two candidates come down to the wire (47 days left…)
What will be the impact on follower numbers? ReTweets? Will there be new hashtags i.e. #No_More_Creigh or #Bob_Bad_for_VA? How will the Tweetdom respond to negative campaigning? What precedent will this campaign set?
Is a political-social media trend in the making?
Keep an eye on this election. It could be bellwether for more than just the 2009 election cycle.
From @bobmcdonnell
- bobmcdonnell Bob ends positive, @CreighDeeds ends angry – staff #vagov
- Bob’s for charter schools. @CreighDeeds is not. ~staff #vagov #200914 minutes ago from web
- @CreighDeeds, you’ve really shared these concerns with @BarackObama? prove it ~staff #vagov17 minutes ago from web
- @CreighDeeds confuses audience, mass hysteria ~staff #vagov22 minutes ago from web
- @CreighDeeds opposes 287g ~staff #vagov #200926 minutes ago from web
- @CreighDeeds angry at Bob’s Fairfax roots and Virginia Beach home ~staff #vagov #200932 minutes ago from web
- @CreighDeeds wanted to triple med mal cap ~staff #vagov #200940 minutes ago from web
- @CreighDeeds called for cap and trade at the Fed. level and bragged about it this Spring ~staff#vagovabout 1 hour ago from web
- @CreighDeeds getting angry ~staff #vagovabout 1 hour ago from web
- @CreighDeeds bashes Gov. Wilder’s ABC planabout 1 hour ago from web
- bobmcdonnell: “With 47 days to go I’m shocked my opponent (@CreighDeeds) still has no transportation plan” #vagovabout 1 hour ago from web
- @CreighDeeds the astronomer…talks about “space”about 1 hour ago from web
- @CreighDeeds opening statement: brags about supporting higher taxes.about 1 hour ago from web
From @CreighDeeds (sporadic tweets directed at Bob McDonnell this summer)
- Tell @bobmcdonnell to admit what his real priorities will be as Gov. Sign our Facebook petition today!http://bit.ly/7R46Y (Aug 18)
- @thehotline We’re gonna run a positive campaign, focused on the issues important to VAins. There’s a big diff b/w me & Bob on those issues. (JUL 21)
- @thehotline EFCA:Bob is grandstanding. Issue belongs in Congrs. I’ll work w/ Va. deleg. to make sure businesses and secret ballot protected. (JUL 21)
- @thehotline i support more pub-priv partnerships. VA is leader in that. Prblm w/ bob’s plan is that he takes $ from schools to pay for rds (JUL 21)
- @thehotline under my plan: you create a job, you get a tax cut. bob can’t say that. (JUL 21)
- @thehotline i cut more taxes for sm biz, beef up gov’s opp fund, don’t pass the buck to LG. Bob was against govs opp fund bf he was for it. (JUL 21)
