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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spin Control

Gregoire does Twitter

Word came last week from Gov. Chris Gregoire’s office that she is now on Twitter.

In truth, she’s been tweeting for a few weeks. But with the revolution in Iran apparently running on social networking media, her office wanted to make sure the governor is recognized as being whatever this week’s term for au courant might be.

She is so into it that she can even joke about it, in her own way. To wit: There once was a time, she says in the press release, when to “tweet’ was to chirp.

(Note to governor’s press staff: Do not let the boss quit her day job to do standup.)

Gregoire is also on Facebook, which unfortunately doesn’t make her at all cutting edge, considering that everybody is on Facebook, including the newspaper. And we all know that newspapers are as 21st Century as the wooly mammoth.

And to be fair, we should note that U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers has been on Twitter months, way before protesters in Tehran made it THE thing to do. One can even go to a Web site, and follow the tweets from one’s member of Congress. Or any other member, for that matter.

It has Republicans flagged in red, Democrats in blue on a running commentary it calls Congressional Tweetstream – a phrase so cute as to invite gagging.

For those who don’t know, Twitter is a system of sending messages of up to 140 characters of text out on the Internet, where they can be transmitted and read on cell phones and computer screens by anyone who has asked the system for your words of wisdom. A single message is called a tweet. It is not true, however, that a person who sends the message is a twit.

Gregoire tweeted about Father’s Day and going to the White House last week for a meeting with President Obama and other governors on health care, her press release noted. If typical, her Twitter activity will start slow at first, mentioning a few big events, then increase in number as they decrease in importance. She’ll get more and more comfortable with the abbreviations and acronyms, possibly to the point where none of her constituents over 35 will have any idea what she means.

Too bad she just started, because it is fun to imagine what she might have tweeted over the last year or so, had she been into Twitter from the start.(If you have trouble with the messages, you can Google Twitter acronyms or check with a teenager.)

Mid 2007: Rossi sez still undecided on running. LOL

October 2007: Rossi in. yawn. BTW need 2 avoid recount this time

February 2008: Backing Obama 4 prez. Xpect Hillary 2 B ticked

August 2008: @ DNC meet w/ Obama. Ears bigr than remember

September 2008: OMG: Econ council sez $3B budget hit coming

October 2008: Rossi sez race even. IRL I’m up by 5

Nov. 3, 2008: 4 mor yrs. Whenz Dino conceding?

Nov. 20, 2008: Econ council now sez hit $5.1B. WTH? Shudda let Rossi win

January 2009: Surpriz: Hi from Bagdad. Fooled press on this 1

February 2009: LisaB thinking gov 2012? A gov from EWash? LMAO

March 2009: Shortfall @ $8B. Note 2 collge students: Pony up

June 2009: Anyone have cell # 4 Gov Sanford of SC? Looking 4 good hiking trail

BTW – sorry, this is habit forming. By the way, if typical for a baby boomer, Gregoire’s interest in Twitter will arc, and in a few months her tweets will go nearly silent. Or she’ll start tweeting to tell us all what she’s about to put on Facebook before  posting it on her blog in advance of the press release announcing her statement...



The Spokesman-Review's political team keeps a critical eye on local, state and national politics.