WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. John McCain may have lost the last presidential election but online the Arizona Republican has something the White House doesn’t have – more followers on the popular social networking site Twitter than the Obama administration’s official Twitter account.
Watch: McCain raves about Twitter
McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) has slightly more than 1.1 million Twitter followers while the White House account (@whitehouse) has approximately 844,000.
McCain, who was not known as a technophile during the 2008 presidential race, says he is fond of the popular service that allows users to broadcast 140-character messages.
“It is a phenomenal way of communicating,” McCain told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
McCain said he was “flooded with responses,” after he recently sent a tweet about use of steroids by a Major League baseball player. “It’s a great, great vehicle for communication.”
Overall though, the Arizona Republican has a ways to go to catch up with his former rival on Twitter.
The Twitter account created by the Obama presidential campaign (@BarackObama) currently has more than 1.8 million followers – meaning the two Obama-related accounts combined have more than double the followers of McCain.
And while there’s presumably a significant overlap between followers of both the original Obama campaign account and the newer, official White House account, apparently not all of Obama’s early Twitter followers have made the switch. So Obama is working hard to boost the White House’s Twitter following. During the last “Follow Friday,” a weekly event where Twitter users recommend which users to follow, Obama’s original campaign account suggested that its 1.8 million followers also follow the official White House Twitter account.
From CNN Politics
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the old fart is looking to make another run at being president. its not going to work.
Does McCain even know what communicating means ?
More tweets by another twit, Talk about useless technology. At least you don't get it unwanted like spam.
wonder who types it for him? once a democrate now a republican
getting way to much air time on CNN or any place else
he is way out of touch with the real world .like most republicans
BIG BUSINESS and lies and deciet and threats
SADDENED and shocked by the attacks on Sarah Palin? PLEASE?! Mr. McCain you knew EXACTLY what the political stage is like and the attacks from BOTH sides get very personal. Mr. McCain...YOU are to blame for the Palin mess. YOU brought her to forefront as unprepared as she was. YOU put her center stage and drove the final nail into the GOP coffin by letting her speak. YOU let her "spread the hate" against Obama for YOU.
I say again, Mr. McCain....YOU are to blame for me leaving the GOP.
95% negative messages he gets, like don't get in the way, old fart.....very interesting that he likes it....hehehehehe
Again, McCain lost badly and so why do we care about him or a comparison of him to Obama??? This is so CNN now...quickly going the route of sensationalism and "tabloid-ism." Sad...
WOW! Am I supposed to be impressed?
I'm not!
The article states: "the Arizona Republican has something the White House doesn’t have – more followers on the popular social networking site Twitter than the Obama administration’s official Twitter account."
Um, ok: So what?
Yawn...slow newsday
Let's play a game. It's called How to Know When You're Country has become as intelligent as an adolescent teen. In case you weren't already sure, reporting on the fact that a Republican senator has more friends on twitter than our President does is a great way to tell if your country has run out of stuff to report on. Guys, we have two wars, North Korea, Healthcare, the Economy. Im certain there are better things you can report on than how many friends McCain has on twitter or who the President is drinking beers with
Pretty worthless use of one's time if you ask me but I guess it's a compassionate way of keeping an eye on fraudulent old men that should be wearing an ankle bracelet instead!
Oh please. The White House is a controlled feed, it isn't like Obama sits down and types out the tweet. You can't even compare.
Is this McCain day? Sheesh, the old buzzard hasn't done or said peep since he got trounced in November, and now we are subjected to 5 posts about him? How about news from a real leader of the GOP - say, Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh?
Mr. McCain, tweet all you want ... you still have nothing to say that I want to hear!
This comparison is skewed in all fronts of its outcomes. There is no validity in making a comparison between a human entity and a building. In my view, this comparison should be demeaning to Sen McCain.
palin cannot be attacked but she can attack obama. double standard
Geez, CNN, I don't think there are enough McCain posts. Another 37 or so should do it.
Twitter and other social sites on the internet is yet one more thing Americans can do to totally waste time!
Just like my sending this message.
So?
McCain lost. One of the biggest reasons he lost was b/c of his poor choice of a VP. He still hasn't admitted that it was a mistake to this day.
Arizona, vote him out in 2010.
Hey Let's Celebrate! IT'S JOHN MCCAIN, SUNDAY!!!!
I hope someone tweets him and lets him know that Czechoslovakia is no longer a country, President Obama is an American citizen and most importantly he lost so shut up!
What's with the preoccupation with McCain CNN? I for one could care less. He is still out of touch.
Did McCain resign, too? Wasn't this the guy who was pumping one arm saying, "Congress needs to get to work?" ..Or are you talking about Michael Jackson's executor here CNN?
Attacking people, finger pointing and name calling all over a politician using twitter, no wonder this nation is in the trouble it is.