By Mike Saucier @MikeTheSauce
Twitter did not disappoint this week in its role as cauldron of human triumph and heartbreak distilled into 140 characters at a time. It shattered records. The number of tweets per minute (327,000) was broken after it was announced that President Obama was the winner. The Election Night image of the president and first lady Michelle Obama in an embrace with the tagline “Four more years” exploded on social media, registering 800,000 retweets as of Friday morning, another record. And Election Day was the most tweeted event in the American political history, with 20 million abbreviated bursts of communications hitting Twitter feeds around the world.
There was one unrecorded metric that likely also broke a record: wrong predictions. As media critic Howard Kurtz said in his column, “If failed predictions were a felony, the jails would be filled with media folks.” And a lot of other people, I would add, @MikeTheSauce included!
Here in Arizona, tweets about the national race mingled with hyper-local election tweets from all corners of the state. Let’s start with what people were tweeting before the election then move to what was said after the results came in.
Robocalls. They know no limits. The robots even call newsroom lines, as noted by the Republic’s national political reporter Dan Nowicki (@dannowicki):
“Just got a robocall from Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson on my Arizona Republic desk line.”
State Senate candidate and State Senator from District 10 Frank Antenori (@FrankAntenori) really tried to put the scare into voters with this tweet:
“Want to pay $40 for a case of beer? Vote for my opponent. He just loves voting for tax increases.”
The beer threat fell flat, however, as Antenori lost the race to Democrat David Bradley for the seat in the legislative district that covers most of the east side of metro Tucson.
Another tactic by Antenori, skywriting his name, was mocked by “recovering reporter and recovering political hack” Robbie Sherwood (@RobbieSherwood), who tweeted:
“I was going to vote for the other guy but then I saw this sky message,” said no one ever.” pic.twitter.com/lmXmkks4
Ruth Carter (@rbcarter), “Arizona IP, Business & Social Media Attorney, Blogger, Co-founder of Improv AZ, Trekkie, Singer, Runner, Insomniac” tweeted accurately: “If you don’t vote, you can’t bitch. Retain your bitching rights and go vote if you didn’t vote by mail.”
In the run-up to Election Day, some grew understandably weary of political ads. Ryan Winslett (@RyanWinslett), a “journalist and freelance games writer” from Fountain Hills, was one of them. He tweeted: “After SNL, I’m done with TV until Wednesday. One more political ad and I’m likely to go hug a moving train.”
Robert Leger (@RobertLeger), who edits the editorial pages of the Republic, captured the Twitter mood as the results were about to come in, with this tweet: “Interesting commentary across the web. Partisans on both sides make strong cases for why their guy will win big. Spin or true belief?”
And if this tweet from state Senator Al Melvin (@SenatorMelvin) is any indication, the answer to the previous question is: spin.
“The USA will return to our glory days as a nation starting tomorrow with a GOP landslide across America. Our best days are ahead!!!”
A newsroom tradition on Election Day is to chow down on what generally is an abundance of high-calorie, high-fat food. This election was no exception, as evidenced by this tweet by Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott), who covers downtown and Central Phoenix for the Republic. “Most important question in the newsroom: When’s the pizza getting here?”
Kellie Mejdrich (@kelmej), an intern reporter at Arizona Public Media in Tucson and a last-semester student at UA, live-tweeted the following glimpses from a gathering of Pima County Republicans in the Sheraton ballroom.
“Blue aluminum cans of Bud Light a popular choice with Pima County Republicans.”
“Pima county republicans glued to Fox News as they await results from Florida. Tensions high.”
“Pima County Republicans are jetting out of the Sheraton Ballroom. Plastic cups, sweat in the air is all that’s left of this election party.”
That was just the beginning of the tweets reflecting the deflated hopes of Republicans across Arizona.
“I’ve lost my faith in Americans. I’m changing my party to Misanthrope,” tweeted Shane Wikfors (@ShaneWikfors), a “Conservative Breitbart Activist, Political Scientist/Consultant, Historian, Economist, Navy Nuke Vet, Gardener, Father, Husband & Christ Follower.”
“Dear Canada… remember my dual citizenship? Maybe I’ll come back and bring the Hubbs with me,” tweeted Jennifer Leibowitz (@jennleiboaz), who tweets a lot “about wine. And politics. And stuff,” according to her Twitter bio.
She also tweeted: “I keep writing nasty tweets… then deleting them. I’m really disappointed in this election. #MajorUnderstatement”
At least she deleted them.
Meghan McCain (@McCainBlogette) has been talking about the need for the Republican Party to be more of an open tent for some time. After the results came in, she tweeted: “Heartbroken. My party has to evolve or it’s going to die.”
No doubt feeling the Twitter wrath of the more conservative wing of the party, McCain later tweeted: “Keep calling people like me RINO’s and see how many elections week keep winning.”
And also made this point: “I don’t need to do any soul searching about what the GOP is doing wrong, I knew what was wrong four years ago when my father lost. #evolve”
AZ native and fashonista Nina Simmons (@NinaSunshine) made a similar plea for Republican moderation with this tweet: “If the last two presidential elections aren’t a wake up call to the GOP to get their ish together I don’t know what is.”
Jim Small (@JimSmall), editor of @AZNewsService weighed in on the Republican self-reflection with this: “Curious to see the #AZ #GOP grassroots’ reaction to Hannity & Boehner’s new stances on #immigration reform re: badly losing Latino votes”
Of course, some of Arizona’s best athletes on Twitter weighed in:
Ex-Cardinal quarterback Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner): “Looks as if we have our President! Any chance we could now join hands & try 2 grow as a country or will we cont 2 b divided by parties?”
Cardinals kicker Jay Feely (@jayfeely) on Colorado’s legalization of marijauna: “Another brilliant step toward competing in a global economy.”
He then followed up with this tweet: “I was being sarcastic, this isnt a positive result.”
But just when you thought it was over, it was not, as Secretary of State Ken Bennett (@theREALAZsos) informed his followers with this tweet:
“There are an estimated 602,334 early & provisional ballots statewide yet to be processed & counted. Counties have until 11/16 to complete.”
The nasty inevitably came out on Twitter on Election Night but Twitter feeds were also peppered with congratulatory wishes.
John McJunkin (@johnmcjunkin), a “Christian, husband, father, Arizonan, Wyoming ex-pat, Morning Show Producer/Co-Host/Stand-In Host – Sharpe In The Morning – Fox News Radio 550 KFYI” tweeted: “Congratulations to President Barack Obama – truly impressed with the capacity of his campaign to overcome. Now I wonder about our future.”
No Twitter column about the election can go without a Nate Silver reference. So, this: Thomas Galvin, Jr. (@ThomasGalvin), policy advisor to Brenda Burns at Arizona Corporation Commission, tweeted, “I tip my hat to Nate Silver. I went from skeptic to believer ‘On the road to Toledo’”
Looking ahead (Too soon? Never too soon!) was Shawnna L.M. Bolick (@slmbolick), who tweeted, “Yay! George P Bush files 2 run in TX.”
By the way, this was the first election without a Bush or Clinton running in some capacity since 1976.
Reflecting on the new Arizona Corporation Commission rife with Bobs and Burnses, Rose Law Group’s co-chair of the Renewable Energy Department and partner Court Rich (@Court_Rich) tweeted: “ACC now has 2 Bobs and 2 Burns. Note; the Burns have the same initials “B. Burns” and 1 of the Bobs is also a Burns. #confusing”
There was other momentous news this week as Jared Loughner was sentenced on Thursday.
Katie Raml (@katieraml), main anchor for ABC 15 In Phoenix, set the stage with this tweet: “Inside the courtroom with Tucson shooting victims… Including Gabby. Waiting for Loughner. What a moment…”
And Matt McAllister (@KNIXMatt), co-Host of The Ben and Matt Show on 102.5 KNIX in Phoenix, captured what many were thinking with this tweet: “Jared Loughner is garbage. It’s time to take out the trash. Just my opinion.”
That was one busy week in politics. But life’s not just about politics. It’s also about going places and enjoying what your surroundings have to offer. Such as (this week’s business plugs)…
“Saw Ballet Arizona’s ‘Giselle’ last night. Wonderful performances by tremendously talented dancers/athletes. You should go!” according to Grant Woods (@GrantWoods), the former state attorney general.
Joe Johnston (@realjoe) wants everybody to just get along, so he put out an invitation to his Gilbert restaurant with this kumbaya tweet: “can’t we at least unite over a free cheeseburger? dems, tea party, anarchists, greens, apathetic all welcome at @joesfarmgrill.”
The random tweets still pour in amidst the election noise. Here’s this week’s sampling:
Jon Justice (@JonJustice), TV talk show host of Tucson: “I have an idea. Still need to work on it a bit. But I wanted a point of reference as to when I first spawned the thought process.”
Kristen Keogh (@KristenKeogh) of Fox 10: “Working a story on nomophobia, the fear of being without a cell phone, with @jedijoephx. If only we could interview ourselves!!”
Ruben Hidalgo (@RubenAHidalgo) on the absence of a certain annoying East Coast tradition:
“What is this Daylight Savings you speak of? #azlife”
Brittney Shipp (@brittneyshipp) of 3TV: “Dont you hate when you fall at work!! lol…is anyone with me….so embarrassing! it’s worse when ppl DONT laugh!”
And the Tweet of the Week comes from Chris Hrapsky (@chris12news) of 12 News. The tweet speaks for itself: “Mark Kelly 2 #Loughner: u have decades upon decades to think about what u did. From this moment, Gabby and I are done thinking about u.”
