CNN

The 'smoking tweet.'

Washington (CNN) - During a press conference on Wednesday, Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin pointed to Republican Sen. Jim DeMint's Twitter account as the smoking gun – or as he called it, the "smoking tweet" – showing the Republicans' strategy to slow down the health care bill.

"If there's any idea, any question in mind about motive and what's behind this, I have in my hand a smoking tweet," Durbin said.

Pointing to a piece of paper, Durbin proceeded to read two of DeMint's tweets: "'If Reid won't slow down this debate, we'll do it for him,' followed by, 'Coburn forced Dems to read 767 pg Sanders amendment, we'll do everything we can to stop this government takeover of health care.'"

The press conference was held by Durbin and Sen. Robert Menendez to discuss "GOP obstruction" to the health care bill.

Wesly Denton, DeMint's Communications Director, told CNN he was "flattered that [Durbin] is paying so much attention to DeMint's Twitter account," but added, "DeMint's been clear for months he wants to stop this bill."

In 2009 it seemed all of Washington was buzzing about Twitter, but were people on Twitter buzzing about Washington?

Washington (CNN) – Among all the hype this year in Washington about Twitter, the top conversations occurring on the popular social networking Web site during 2009 were anything but political.

Looking back on the year that Twitter became mainstream, Twitter's Chief Scientist Abdur Chowdhury wrote on Twitter's blog, "Trending Topics helped us understand what was happening around the world showing us that people everywhere can be united in concern around important events; excited about a new movie; or geek-out about a major new technology."

The most noticeable Washington-based story users tweeted about was South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst during President Obama's address to Congress in September. In the category of "people" most tweeted about, Wilson was seventh, beating out Tiger Woods, Christian Bale and A-Rod. Michael Jackson was most tweeted about person in 2009, followed by surprise singing sensations Susan Boyle and Adam Lambert.

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Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will speak at the Gridiron dinner Saturday.

Washington (CNN)– For the first time in its 124-year history, the Gridiron Club is, on a trial basis, partially lifting its "off the record" rule for its annual dinners.

"Ladies are always present; reporters are never present," has been a club motto since the beginning – and its spring and winter dinners billed as an "off the record" night of humorous speeches and musical skits, most of them good naturedly lampooning politicians and the reporters who cover them.

But club leaders announced the experiment Saturday morning, describing it as a bow to the reality of the "Twitter" age.

It is a one-time trial for the winter dinner, which this year features Sarah Palin and Barney Frank as the Republican and Democratic speakers, respectively.

The winter dinner is a smaller affair than the spring event, which normally draws the president and a "who's who" of Washington.

At the winter event, attendance is limited to members and their spouses or one guest.

Club leaders said the policy will be re evaluated after this weekend's dinner.

The event remains closed to media coverage - meaning reporters who are not members or invited guests cannot attend to cover the proceedings - and no photographs are allowed.

At a morning Gridiron meeting, club leaders stressed they hoped reporting of the event would be minimal and urged members not to type notes or "tweet" during the speeches.

But they said it has become common practice for accounts of the dinners to appear in media accounts, and so they had reluctantly decided to experiment with a new policy.

Sarah Palin on Wednesday sent out her first tweet in nearly four months on a new Twitter account associated with her book tour.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sarah Palin on Wednesday sent out her first tweet in nearly four months on a new Twitter account associated with her book tour.

She tweeted from a BlackBerry at 11:04 p.m. ET: "Michigan-thx 4 Going Rogue! Perfect tour kickoff w/Kid Rock tune praising Northern MI humming in backgrnd @ Barnes/Noble. Above expectations."

The former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate launched a bus tour for her new book, "Going Rogue: An American Life," which is already a bestseller. The tour started Wednesday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Palin's last tweet occurred from an account associated with Alaska's governorship. When she resigned in late July, the @AKGovSarahPalin went dormant and Palin switched to sending out frequent Facebook messages.

This week, her old Twitter account sent a message, saying @AKGovSarahPalin would be removed and Palin would begin tweeting from a new account: @SarahPalinUSA.

Palin has more than 22,000 people following her new account. More than 153,000 people followed her original account.

Obama: I've never used Twitter.

Washington (CNN) – President Obama admitted to never using Twitter during his trip to China on Monday.

"Let me say that I have never used Twitter," Obama said in response to a question from a Chinese student about using Twitter freely in China. Obama continued: "I noticed that young people - they're very busy with all these electronics.  My thumbs are too clumsy to type in things on the phone."

During the presidential campaign, techies and news organizations all noted the Obama campaign's use of social networking. "Barack Obama dominates Twitter" read one summer headline on CNET.com.

Obama has his name on one Twitter account, @BarackObama, which was started in April 2007 and is now run by Organizing for America (Obama's political arm operated out of the Democratic National Committee). The other account is @WhiteHouse, which was first set up to send out news about H1N1. @BarackObama has close to 2.7 million followers and @WhiteHouse has over 1.4 million followers.

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Twitter has been buzzing about the November 3 elections.

WASHINGTON (CNN) –The conversation on Twitter Tuesday is, unsurprisingly, about the election. The trending topic list on Twitter, that reflects what words or phrases are being used the most, show "Election Day," "#VoteNoOn1," "Vote" and "Maine" taking the top spots.

There are plenty of other hashtags being used to keep track of conversations and topics surrounding the election. One hashtag gaining traction in New Jersey primarily is "#Voterfraud." This is being used to track irregularities in the polls. National youth organizations including Rock the Vote, Campus Progress, the Energy Action Coalition, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and the United States Student Association, are coming together Tuesday on Twitter. Using the hashtag "#1yrlater," the organizations and their followers are tweeting about issues important to them and how the Obama administration is doing one year later.

Of course, the candidates are also tweeting. Most tweets are focused on drumming up the vote. Mike Bloomberg's Twitter account notified followers on Monday that he will personally be sending out tweets Election Day. In New Jersey, Jon Corzine and Chris Christie have been active tweeters throughout the election as well, known for taking shots at each other in 140 characters. (To follow all the candidates on Twitter, follow the @CNNPolitics Twitter List).

Crimson Hexagon ran an analysis of the conversation occurring on Twitter, as well as on blog posts and forum threads about the House race in New York's 23rd congressional. The company, which monitors the conversation occurring online, looked at at 31,000 tweets, blogs and forums from October 22 to November 2 and found that the most animated and vocal conversation came from supporters of Hoffman and if the online community did discuss Scozzafva, it was negative. Crimson Hexagon Executive Melyssa Plunkett-Gomez says that her analysis shows that "the liberal bloggers did not use this race as their platform."

Follow Eric Kuhn on Twitter @KuhnCNN
For more political news follow @CNNPolitics

Marco Rubio's Twitter account, which was hacked today.

Washington (CNN) – Two prominent Republicans had their Twitter accounts hacked on Wednesday. Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio and Tennessee gubernatorial candidate Zach Wamp both fell victim to a "phishing attack" that urged their followers to visit a site hawking colon cleansing pills.

Followers of Rubio's Twitter feed saw this message on Wednesday afternoon: "lol it's amazing. look and feel great with http://cleansefats.com." An hour later, the real Rubio tweeted: "I got hacked selling something? Could be worse. They could have written Go Noles or Go Jets as if it was coming from me!" (Rubio is a Florida Gators and Miami Dolphins fan.)

Meanwhile, Wamp's Twitter account sent out "direct messages," which are not seen publicly but sent directly to followers. His message read: "hi. this works. i feel better and look great. http://bdgdfij.info." That link also re-directed readers to a site selling colon cleansing pills.

According to technology consultant Jon-David Schlough, a phishing attack is a type of hack "where an attacker masquerades as a trusted brand or person and fools the user into clicking. Once the user clicks, the attacker may take over their profile and spread the attack to their friends as well - or do other unfriendly things."

Rubio campaign spokesperson Alex Burgos told CNN that the candidate quickly changed his password. Wamp's campaign is still investigating what happened, but sent out a message on Twitter telling followers to disregard the direct message.

Tonight the World Series starts, but the competition is already tense on Capital Hill.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The players have yet to hit the field, but World Series trash-talking is already in full swing - on Capitol Hill.

It started on Monday with a bet on who was going to win the World Series. New York Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand will send Pennsylvania Sens. Arlen Specter and Robert Casey Junior's Cheesecakes if the Philadelphia Phillies win and if the Yankees win, Schumer and Gillibrand will receive a supply of Philly cheesesteaks.

Gillibrand fired back on Wednesday: "@SenArlenSpecter Respectfully, Senator, sir...you're going down!"

But Specter stuck to his major league guns. "Hey @SenGillibrand, can you recommend a good cheesecake? We will be too busy celebrating the Phillies victory to decide."

Gillibrand explained the exchange for any confused constituents: "Just a friendly wager w/ @SenArlenSpecter over who will win the World Series."

Schumer and Casey do not have active Twitter accounts, but that hasn't kept them on the bench. "I give Senators Specter and Casey credit for sticking with their team but I can already taste those delicious Philly cheesesteaks," Schumer said in a joint statement issued by both states' senators earlier this week.

Casey was having none of it: "If the Phillies keep up their extraordinary efforts at the plate, on the mound and in the field, it is only a matter of time until Senator Specter and I are able to enjoy some delicious cheesecake."

Follow Eric Kuhn on Twitter @KuhnCNN.

Meghan McCain says she's ready to quit twitter after a photograph she posted caused a wave of criticism

(CNN) – Meghan McCain says she's ready to quit Twitter all together after generating a wave of criticism from users of the popular social networking site Wednesday night for posting a picture of herself in a tank top that left little to the twitterverse's imagination.

The controversy began quietly enough when McCain, the vocal daughter of the former Republican presidential candidate, tweeted that her self described "spontaneous" night in included reading a biography of the iconic artist Andy Warhol and ordering takeout.

It was there the 24-year old McCain posted the photo of herself wearing a tank top that generated the subsequent controversy .

The photograph apparently generated a string of negative responses, leading McCain to weigh in 15 minutes later: "so I took a fun picture not thinking anything about what I was wearing but apparently anything other than a pantsuit and I am a slut."

"This is why I have been considering deleting my twitter account," McCain, with close to 60,000 followers, continued in another tweet, "what once was fun now just seems like a vessel for harassment."

Fifteen minutes later, McCain weighed in again, tweeting, "When I am alone in my apartment, I wear tank tops and sweat pants, I had no idea this makes me a slut", I can't even tell you how hurt I am."

An hour later, the prolific tweeter said her decision was nearly made: "ok I am getting the f**k off twitter, promise not to delete my account until I sleep on it, thank you for the nice words supporters."

But McCain did make one final tweet before the evening came to a close, posting a link to her latest column for the Web site The Daily Beast.

George W. Bush meets with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A spokesman for George W. Bush told CNN Wednesday that the former president currently "has no plans of tweeting."

On Tuesday, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone met with Bush at the World Knowledge Forum in South Korea. Bush told Stone he got a BlackBerry (while in the White House, Bush did not have e-mail). Stone, tweeting about the meeting, wondered if Bush would join the social networking site. The question quickly spread on numerous technology blogs, and on Twitter for the past two days.

Could Bush join last year's Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, on Twitter?  At least for now, the answer is no. Bush spokesman Dave Sherzer told CNN Wednesday that the former president had enjoyed meeting Stone, but tweeting wasn't currently on his agenda.

UPDATE: The Twitter name @GeorgeWBush is being held by the George W. Bush Foundation, a foundation spokesman confirmed to CNN Thursday, but there are currently no plans to start using the account.

Follow Eric Kuhn on Twitter @KuhnCNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The largest number of comments on Twitter after Sen. Olympia Snowe's vote in support of the Senate Finance Committee $829 billion health care proposal came from people angry about her decision.

According to Crimson Hexagon and Mashable, of the roughly 6,000 tweets that mentioned Snowe and were selected and examined following the votes Monday (from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. ET) and Tuesday (between 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. ET). Forty-nine percent of those tweets communicated an anti-Snowe message. Those tweets fell into roughly three categories: "Get her out" (21 percent), "Shame on her" (19 percent) and "Call 2 protest" (10 percent).

Forty-four percent of those surveyed sent out a message congratulating the senator for her vote, and 6 percent noted that they don't care or that the "bill sucks" regardless.

The most up to date analysis of the Tweetstream of about 6000 tweets.
(Photo Credit: Crimson Hexagon)

"What this demonstrates is the loudest voices in the conversation," says Crimson Hexagon executive Melyssa Plunkett-Gomez. "Of the tweets that we analyzed, it represents the proportions of tweets that are reflecting these sentiments. The loudest voice is anti-Olympia Snowe."

Crimson Hexagon is a non-partisan company that analysis the conversation on the Internet, including Twitter. It uses an algorithm that monitors the sentiment of tweets. The survey was commissioned by Mashable, a leading technology blog.

Follow Eric Kuhn on Twitter @KuhnCNN

George W. Bush meets with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – After leaving the White House last year, George W. Bush has kept a low profile. He moved back to Texas and began writing his memoir. But on Tuesday, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone met with the former president. Bush said he just got a new BlackBerry. Stone, tweeting about his meeting, wondered if Bush will begin tweeting.

Someone has claimed the Twitter name @GeorgeWBush and added a photo, although there is currently no way to verify who is behind the account.

The NRCC tweet before it was removed.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The National Republican Congressional Committee has removed a tweet Tuesday that linked to a video comparing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with Adolf Hitler.

The tweet, sent out Tuesday morning on their official Twitter account, read: "Funny Video: Moonbattery: Hitler Reacts to ObamaCare Maneuvers http://bit.ly/2mOvZ7 #Pelosi". It comes the same day the NRCC released a petition on their site to "Fire Nancy Pelosi."

The tweet immediately drew strong criticism from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "House Republicans have gone way too far. The NRCC's despicable promotion of a video comparing Speaker Pelosi's effort to reform health insurance in America to Adolf Hitler's extermination of millions is a shocking new low that must be condemned," said DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider. "Republican Leader John Boehner should order NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions to immediately remove this vile Tweet and apologize."

NRCC spokesman John Randall said Tuesday the group had made a mistake. "We obviously made an error in linking to this video and it has been taken down," said Randall.

This tweet comes on the heels of a controversial NRCC statement last week that called on Gen. Stanley McChrystal to "put [Pelosi] in her place" on the topic of Afghanistan.

Follow Eric Kuhn on Twitter @KuhnCNN

The official Barack Obama Twitter account after the announcement of his Nobel Peace Prize award.
(Photo Credit: Twitter.com)

A screengrab of Barack Obama's Twitter account (run by Organizing for America, President Obama's political arm which is now operated out of the Democratic National Committee), echoes the word that, according to Twitter, most Americans have on their mind: humbled. The other two words that quickly rose on Twitter's Trending Topic list, which reflects what is drawing the most discussion on Twitter right now are "Nobel" and "President Obama."

The re-design of the Justice Department Web site.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Justice Department became "Justice 2.0" Thursday, unveiling their new Web site and robust social media strategy on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and MySpace.

Since taking office, the Obama administration has been pushing for transparency in government and cabinet members have been revamping their Web and social media strategies accordingly.

"We'll see what opportunities arise," a Justice spokesperson told CNN on the strategy behind their accounts. "But the basic premise is it is a way to get our message to more people and that message can be received by people where they are online. They don't have to come to us, it can come to them."

The new Justice.gov incorporates a new blog and will have a regularly updated photo and video library (the old site had photos and videos, but were not updated on a regular basis).

The YouTube page currently has five videos explaining the role of the DOJ and the roles of the attorney general, associate AG and deputy AG. Moving forward, the site will feature press conferences, speeches and public service announcements. The Facebook and MySpace pages will act as a clearing house for all the social media the DOJ is pushing. @TheJusticeDept on Twitter will be an informative and educational hub pointing to breaking news, information, quotes form the attorney general, notes from high profile events, and links to new content.

Follow Eric Kuhn on Twitter @KuhnCNN

Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke has become the third cabinet member in the Obama administration to join Twitter.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke has become the third Cabinet Member in the Obama administration to join Twitter, the microblogging social network. He joined yesterday to help promote Commerce and also keep in touch with American entrepreneurs.

"It's important that the Department of Commerce regularly communicates with American businesses and entrepreneurs to help them translate new ideas into economic growth," Locke told CNN. "Innovation is going to be the key to our long-term economic growth, and we need to embrace new ways of communicating with small businesses and entrepreneurs."

Locke announced his intentions to join Twitter yesterday in a speech delivered at the Inc. 500 / 5000 Conference, geared towards small business owners and entrepreneurs. The secretary noted he recently met with technology entrepreneurs at the White House and wanted to keep connected.

"I will start Tweeting regularly on innovation and entrepreneurship issues and look forward to hearing your thoughts on them," he said.

While the White House keeps a regularly updated Twitter account, the other two cabinet members on Twitter are Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (@raylahood) and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis (@hildasolisdol).

You can follow Sec. Locke on Twitter @seclocke.

Joe Wilson and his online team turned what could have been a PR disaster, in to an online success story.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - When Rep. Joe Wilson yelled "You lie!" at President Obama, the South Carolina Republican's political team quickly launched an online strategy to capitalize on the incident.

Wilson's heated outburst came on the House floor as Obama addressed a joint session of Congress about health care.

Within 12 hours, Wilson media consultant Brian Donahue had sketched out a plan that included buying ads on Google, cutting videos on YouTube and using Twitter and Facebook to raise money and counter the congressman's critics.

"We knew that influencers and news outlets would want to find out more information about what happened and what Joe Wilson's response was, and they would be looking for this information online," Donahue told CNN. "The events were happening by the minute and by the hour. Online was where we needed to be to respond and provide new information from Congressman Wilson. Traditional print media couldn't keep up with the pace of this issue."

Full Story

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - Online fundraising site ActBlue announced Friday that since Republican congressman Joe Wilson's outburst during President Obama's address, his Democratic opponent Rob Miller has raised over $787,951 (and rising) on the site.  The first donation came in at 9:15 p.m. ET on September 9.

ActBlue Deputy Communications Director Adrian Arroyo told CNN that the donations have come in from over 21,622 people since Wednesday night's speech, a major jump from the 5,000 who had contributed as of yesterday.  Arroyo admits that since the fundraising push is viral, "there is no one place to locate what is going on.  You have DailyKos, Twitter and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee circling these issues. There is no one prime mover."  The mean contribution size is $36.

Two links leading back to ActBlue's donation pages have been clicked on over 9,500 times, said the group. Two days after the speech, Joe Wilson is still the top trending topic on Twitter - and ActBlue has benefited greatly, with more than 1,000 tweets about their fundraising efforts for the congressman's opponent.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Two links (Miller's ActBlue listing and fundraising page) allowing people to donate to Rep. Congressman Joe Wilson's opponent Rob Miller went viral last night on e-mail, Twitter and Facebook, raising approximately $100,000, according to the liberal group pushing for the contributions.

The links came from online fundraising site ActBlue, and the first donation via the links came in at 9:30 p.m. ET last night. ActBlue's two links were clicked on over 3,000 times. The overwhelming majority of those clicks came in from people e-mailing the links, followed by a people sharing the link on Twitter. A smaller number of donors put the link on Facebook.

ActBlue Deputy Communications Director Adrian Arroyo told CNN that the donations have come in from over 5,000 individuals.

As President Obama addresses a joint session of Congress, CNN's team will be Tweeting live.

The Best Political Team will deliver real time analysis, color and observations of President Obama’s address tonight on health care.

CNN correspondents, analysts and producers will be providing instant reports in bite-size “tweets” of Obama’s speech, the Republican response being delivered by Rep. Charles Boustany, and the analysis and color that surrounds these nationally televised events.

Tune in at 7:30 p.m. ET and keep refreshing the Ticker for the very latest on this critical night in the health care debate.

Done for tonight. For individual analysis follow @EdHenryCNN, @CrowleyCNN, @SamFeistCNN, @PrestonCNN, @sinderbrandrCNN, @hambypCNN, @KuhnCNN

CNN Poll on Obama plan: pre-speech 53% favor/36 oppose...post speech 67 favor/29 oppose.

CNN Poll: 72% of speech watchers said Obama "Clearly stated his health care goals"

Poll results coming in now. Stand by.

RT @PrestonCNN: I'm unable to access Rep. Wilson's House Web site. But here is his bio: http://bit.ly/PYYay

RT @KuhnCNN: Joe Wilson is now the top trending topic on Twitter. (from CNN's Jeff Simon)

RT @PrestonCNN: Tonight was supposed to be about President Obama, but Joe Wilson and Ted Kennedy stole the show.

RT @PoliticalTicker: "CNN confirms: Rep. Wilson the congressional heckler" – http://bit.ly/aEWS1

RT @PoliticalTicker: "Picture of the night: Joe Wilson's outburst - http://bit.ly/3P5zbp

GOP Rep. Dave Camp on lie outburst: "I don't advise that, I think it's important to listen as respectfully as possible."

Sen. John McCain told Larry King that Wilson's shout "totally disrespectful. He should apologize immediately."

RT @PrestonCNN: Rep. Camp, senior Republican on Ways & Means, tells CNN that Obama's speech was "well delivered" but "overtly political."

GOP Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted “You lie!” at President Obama, CNN confirms.

RT @hambypCNN: DNC chair Tim Kaine: Obama gave "a stirring and passionate address" ... "We hope Republicans will join us."

We got numbers: CNN poll guru Keating Holland on hand for instant poll on how speech played, results within the hour...

The Kennedy Letter.@PoliticalTicker Kennedy to Obama: “There will be struggles on health care reform" http://bit.ly/107lcO

RThttp://twitter.com/kingsthings: The president's speech ends, but we'll be on after the Republican response from Rep. Charles Boustany

WH releases text of Ted Kennedy letter Obama mentioned: 'I wanted to write a few final words to you...'

RT @KuhnCNN: Picture from CNN Radio studio with @PrestonCNN, who is doing post-speech analysis: http://yfrog.com/0okdotj

RT @PoliticalTicker: "Obama ready to move on tort reform" – http://bit.ly/5aN9Z

Spokesman says GOP Members did bring copies of Republican bills to the floor w/ them tonight to show that they do have healthcare proposals.

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