Minnesota congressional races: social media

Although the 2012 Presidential election makes Minnesota's Third and Seventh Congressional Districts appear to be competitive, neither Erik Paulsen nor Collin Peterson has attracted an opponent, merely flack from opposition congressional committees and, in the case of Paulsen, protests from both the left and the right.

The First, too, draws Republican opponents to Tim Walz, though his margins in re-election bids since 2006 have ranged from ginormous to barely comfortable. This year, there are three clowns in the car (Mike Benson, Jim Hagedorn, Aaron Miller) with rumors of more to come. In Minnesota's Second, DFLer Mike Obermueller is trying again, as is John Kline's primary opponent David Gerson.

Michele Bachmann's retirement has created an opening for ambitious Republicans Tom Emmer, Phil Krinkie, John Pederson and Rhonda Sivarajah and has drawn one serious DFL candidate, Jim Read, while Republican Stewart Mills generating a genuine threat to Rick Nolan's sophomore bid in Minnesota's Eighth.

Bluestem took a superficial look tonight at each candidate's Facebook and Twitter accounts, which reveal a strong social media base for Walz, who had used social media effectively beginning in 2006, a lesser gap between Obermueller, Gerson and Kline in the Second, breakaway number for Tom Emmer in the Sixth, and a tight Facebook race in the Eighth, with Nolan doing much better on Twitter.

A couple of caveats: Mike Benson's twitter account serves general utility for both a Republican state rep and a congressional campaign account, while Pederson's hasn't a tweet since 2011. Jim Read just jumped in. The social media accounts for Walz, Kline and Nolan are campaign-related, rather than social media accounts connected to their official duties.

Here's a chart of the standings tonight, give or take an extra like or follow since we gathered the data:

Photo: Tim Walz showing off a favorite app on his iPhone at Netroots MN, 2009. Walz's campaign was an early adopter of Facebook and other social media, in part because so many former students worked on the former high school teacher's election and re-election efforts. Photo by Laura Askelin, via flickr.