JOHN BOEHNER

            House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today announced that the Republican Leader’s website will host a live blog of President Obama’s State of the Union address.  The GOP Leader Blog will provide real-time fact-checking of the President’s remarks and lay out Republicans’ better solutions to the challenges working families are facing.

            “President Obama’s rhetoric is often detached from reality, so it’s important there be a place Americans can go to get the facts about his job-killing agenda,” Boehner said. “We’ll also be using this live blog to discuss Republicans’ better solutions to the challenges working families and small business owners are facing.  House Republicans have had great success over the last year using the Internet and social media to connect with the American people.  This live blog will not only provide a place to find GOP better solutions, visitors can take advantage of the open commenting feature to exchange ideas with House Republicans and each other. Working together, we can hold Washington Democrats accountable.”

Up-to-the-minute coverage of the State of the Union will be available at http://gopleader.gov/blog or through Leader Boehner’s Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/gopleader.

Numerous reports have confirmed House Republicans’ domination of YouTube, Twitter, and social media. Politifact.com says Leader Boehner “is correct when he boasts that the House GOP dominates the Democrats on Twitter, YouTube and other social media in Congress.” 

House Republicans Dominate Twitter:

• “The Republican leadership in the House is both aggressive and popular on Twitter. The party’s top two members in the House - John A. Boehner of Ohio and Eric Cantor of Virginia, respectively - have the most followed Twitter accounts in the chamber.  Mr. Boehner and the No. 3 Republican in the House, Mike Pence of Indiana, had also combined to send out more than 3,000 Tweets.” (The New York Times, 1/13/10)

• “A report on lawmakers’ use of Twitter is out today and the results may surprise. ‘Twongress: The Power of Twitter in Congress’ by Mark Senak, a Democrat, finds that as of this month, Republican House members have sent out 529% more tweets than their Democratic counterparts.  Notable tweeters include Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, who has the most followers of any senator, and House Minority Leader John Boehner, who has the most followers compared to his GOP colleagues.” (The Wall Street Journal, 1/14/10)

• “Though Barack Obama commanded the new media landscape during his 2008 presidential campaign, House Republicans in particular have been texting circles around the Democrats…The study found that of the 132 congressional lawmakers using Twitter, 89 are Republicans and 43 are Democrats.  Only slightly more Republicans in the Senate used Twitter, but in the House, 75 Republicans count themselves as part of the Twitter scene, compared with 32 Democrats. Those Republicans on Twitter also are using it far more enough than Democrats.  In the House, Republicans dominate the list of most-followed politicians.” (Fox News, 1/15/10)

• “GOP members of Congress have more than twice as many Twitter followers than their Democratic counterparts and tweet five times more often. Minority Leader John Boehner may look like a character from Mad Men, but the Don Draper of the House has a ‘director of new media…” (The Washington Examiner, 1/17/10)

House Republicans Dominate YouTube:

• “Though the Democrats captured the majority of the seats in Congress, 89% of Republicans have channels, compared to just 74% of Democrats...Eight of the top 10 most-viewed and most-subscribed YouTube channels in Congress are from the GOP.” (YouTube’s Citizentube, 1/21/10)

• “Democrats may have been credited with more tech savvy in 2008, but Republican lawmakers are more popular on YouTube...They're also using YouTube more than their Democratic counterparts: 89 percent of Republicans in Congress have YouTube channels, compared to 74 percent of Democrats...Republicans have made a concerted effort to close the tech gap and catch up to Democrats since the 2008 election.” (The Atlantic, 1/21/10)