Today is the first time I got involved in Twitter with respect to politics, and Wow.  Up to this point my tweeting and reading tweets had all to do with technical issues (I’m a computer programmer in my day job, as some of you know, and I blog using another name).  Otherwise, I hadn’t paid any attention to what is called by some the Twitterverse.  So today, when I tuned my previously pretty much unused IWasAboutToSay Twitter account into the current political debate, I didn’t know what to expect, exactly.

And Wow it is quite busy there!

I am now following @MittRomney, @BarackObama, @TimPawlenty and @MicheleBachman.  I guess I should follow a couple more Dems, too.  Can’t decide which ones though.  I’ll get to it eventually.

Anyway, there seemes to be an ongoing Twitter battle.  Even though I’m pretty sure that the candidates themselves are NOT doing the tweeting.  The @BarackObama account is clearly not, because they say that he puts “-bo” at the end of his personal tweets.  And I somehow doubt that @MittRomney is tweeting himself, either.

Here’s a recent exchange:

@MittRomney: How about the facts: Women account for 92.3% of jobs lost under @BarackObama. [Infographic] http://mi.tt/HZafYD #ObamaLegacy

@BarackObama: Mitt Romney has millions stored in offshore tax havens like the Cayman Islands. RT if you agree he should close them: http://OFA.BO/7popSt

@MittRomney: Under @BarackObama nearly 23 million Americans are struggling for work. RT if you agree he should be a one term president.

@BarackObama: Now that the GOP primary is all but over, remember what Romney said he’d do to roll back our progress: http://OFA.BO/spc6iV

This is fascinating stuff, though rather on the tame side.  It also can’t be said that it forms any kind of true debate.  It’s more-or-less unrelated soundbites being tossed out into the public forum.   It would be really interesting if the candidates themselves were to actually debate on Twitter in real time.  I doubt we’ll see this.

When you have a look at Twitter traffic being generated by Mitt’s and Barack’s supporters, on the other hand, it is quite a bit rougher.  I have a Windows Phone, and I recently installed an app called “Mini Romney” on it.  This app shows all related traffic, so if a Mitt-hater posts something about Mitt it will show up.  A lot of negative traffic, actually, although all I’ve seen is confined to policy and “Mitt hates poor people” kind of rants.  I’m sure it could be a lot worse.

By the way, feel free to follow me on Twitter: @IWasAboutToSay