Republicans and tea party candidates, especially, used Twitter more effectively in the 2010 election, spreading a more cohesive message and following each other more closely, according to a University of Michigan study.
Researchers from the School of Information and the College of Engineering looked at more than 460,000 tweets over three years from 687 candidates running for U.S. House, Senate and gubernatorial seats.
It's among the first studies to look at the tea party's social media strategies. Despite a lack of party leadership, tea party candidates had the most cohesive message, used hashtags most effectively and joined forces through retweeting most often, largely to attack key Democrats. Among the party's most popular terms were " Nancy Pelosi ," " Barney Frank " and " Clinton ."
"Tea party members appeared to be running an organized Twitter campaign. This is somewhat surprising given the grassroots nature of this movement," the study found.
The study found that Republicans ran a stronger social media campaign on Twitter by staying on point on economic issues. The top terms in Republicans' posts were "spending," "bills," "budget," "WSJ" (Wall Street Journal), " Bush " and "deficit." Republicans tweeted an average of 723 times.
Democrats posted less frequently, an average of 551 tweets. Their tweets covered a wider range of topics: "education," "jobs," "oil spill," "clean energy," "Afghanistan" and "reform."
Political Insider caught up with former U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer on Tuesday, the day Gov. Rick Snyder approved new Congressional district maps that essentially dashed the Democrat's chance at a rematch against political nemesis Republican Rep. Tim Walberg of Tipton.
For the past several elections, the two duked it out to represent the 7th Congressional District with Walberg winning the last round in 2010.
Despite being drawn out of his congressional district under the GOP-drawn maps, Schauer was upbeat about the new 7th District, because, he says, the swing district is now half a percentage point more Democratic.
"I don't think Tim Walberg should get comfortable in his office," said Schauer, who now stumps for the Blue Green Alliance.
The new 7th doesn't include Schauer's home base of Battle Creek. Instead, Calhoun County is part of the 3rd District, a Republican stronghold represented by tea-party backed freshman Rep. Justin Amash of Cascade Township in Kent County. The new 7th extends eastward to pick up Monroe County, now represented by Democrat Rep. John Dingell .
"What Republicans in Lansing did was, they sort of dared me to run. They knew that I would have to move to do it and sacrifice my family to do that, but in doing that they actually drew a district that's a little more Democratic."
No respect
Like vice presidents, lieutenant governors are the source of endless jokes about their perceived lack of importance.
Lt. Gov.?Brian Calley loves to tell about the time he forgot his state government identification and had trouble getting past security on the main floor of the Romney Building, even after showing the guard his driver's license.
A similar amusing — if humbling — incident happened in Grand Rapids recently when Calley was asked to sign a petition to recall Gov.?Rick Snyder , the Grand Rapids Press reported Sunday.
Calley said he asked the man if he knew the lieutenant governor would take over if the recall was successful. The man replied the lieutenant governor couldn't be any worse.
"I said, 'I happen to know the lieutenant governor and I think if you don't like Rick Snyder, you would really not like him,' " Calley told the newspaper.
Due to a lack of consistency between wording in the Michigan Constitution and state election law, there is disagreement over whether Calley would complete Snyder's term in the event of a successful recall or serve only until a special election is held.
The Committee to Recall Rick Snyder has abandoned hopes of getting the recall on the November ballot and is now pushing for February.
Big numbers
Pete Hoekstra has a huge lead over the other Republican candidates for U.S. Senate, according to a Tuesday poll.
Hoekstra, the former U.S. representative from Holland who retired from Congress and ran unsuccessfully for governor, wins 78 percent support among 400 usual Michigan Republican primary voters. Former judge Randy Heckman gets 5 percent and party activist Peter Konetchy gets 3 percent. Eleven percent was unsure in the poll by Public Policy Polling.
Looking at the presidential race, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter gets 5 percent support in his home state while Mitt Romney , also a Michigan native, captures 25 percent, the most among the field. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is second at 13 percent and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachman got 11 percent support each.
The automated telephone poll was taken July 21-24 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. The Democratic polling firm said the poll wasn't paid for by any political organization.
A second poll by the same firm, released Wednesday, found:
Only 4 percent of Michigan voters polled have a favorable opinion of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick , while 77 percent have an unfavorable opinion. Kilpatrick was released from prison last week in a text message scandal.
Just 39 percent of voters say they like former Gov. Jennifer Granholm , while 54 percent do not.
The poll of 593 Michigan voters was taken July 21-24. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Contributors: Paul Egan and Marisa Schultz.
Story ideas: (313) 222-5374 or nassendelft@detnews.com
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