First published at WashingtonTimes.com
Sen. Arlen Specter, with a big new "D" affixed to the end of his name, blew up the Twittersphere yesterday with his blockbuster news.
But even as Tweets buzzed with news about Specter's decision all day long — thousands of tweets pushed it to the top trended topic behind swine flu Tuesday — his own feed was silent.
Until today.
Specter tweeted:
Please visit http://www.spectervstoomey.com/ and vote.
That site is run by the Senate Conservative Fund PAC, which is overwhelmingly slated pro-Toomey.
Before today, Specter's last tweet was from last Wednesday, where he noted, "No more million-dollar fines for billion-dollar crimes" and linked to an item promoting the Fraud Enforcement Recovery Act.
In recent weeks Specter had taken to his Twitter feed to blast his potential GOP rival Toomey, posting regular critiques of the antitax Republican.
Last week he said on Twitter Toomey "wants to be Senator number 100 and vote 'no' on everything," and said the Republican "admits Senate is not desirable."
He also linked to his endorsement from GOP Senate campaign chairman John Cornyn, including his now ironic quote, "A vote for Specter is a vote for denying Harry Reid and the Democrats a filibuster-proof Senate."
Mr. Specter's Facebook page was flooded with supportive statements from Democrats across the country, and one man tweeted that Mr. Specter deserves "a great big hug from all of us who voted on the winning side last November."
Rock it out Facebook. I joined. Fan page: "I support a real progressive against Arlen Specter." http://is.gd/vnjY Pledge $25 if they step up
Conservatives also aren't thrilled with Specter, who joined President Obama for a brief statement at the White House today.
"Dear Arlen, Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out," conservative blogger Michelle Malkin wrote on her Twitter feed.
Then there's the RNC, which offered supporters a "free flipcam" for goodbye videos to Specter in a tweet yesterday.
@RNC: Post your goodbye message to Arlen Specter on our you tube channel! The best 3 win a free flipcam! http://tinyurl.com/9zza6
And speaking of Twitter, for our special "First 100 days" section today, I explored the president's popularity there, interviewing Tweeps about their views in 140 characters or less:
Even though President Obama has offered up just one "tweet" for his 947,000 followers since taking office, the Twitter ruling is in - his first 100 days have been a resounding success.
A random sample of Twitter users engaged in political news mirrored a broader national trend of patience for the new president and a belief that the media exaggerate Mr. Obama's problems.
"Obama is our first modern multitasker president," user SteveBeste wrote on Twitter. "I give him an A for bringing a new sanity to domestic and foreign policy."
"Why oh why do these people seem to think Obama should have everything fixed in 4 months?" opined Jclipscomb0518.
— Christina Bellantoni, White House correspondent,
The Washington Times
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