Republicans Gain the Twitter Edge on Democrats, Study Shows

The party of Ted Stevens, the former senator who once described the Internet as a "series of tubes," is starting to gain the technological edge.

A new study shows Republicans on Capitol Hill are far more active on Twitter than their Democratic colleagues.

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, "Twongress: The Power of Twitter in Congress," showed twice as many Republicans use Twitter even though there are far fewer Republicans in Congress.

"Republican (members of Congress) are outpacing their Democratic rivals in nearly every single category that was measured," said the report, prepared by Mark Senak at the public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard.

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. GOP House members sent 29,162 tweets as of Jan. 3, while Democratic House members sent 5,503.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., thanks in no small part to his presidential campaign, has the most followers -- 1.6 million. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., with 35,000, has the second-highest number of followers in Congress.

In the House, Republicans dominate the list of most-followed politicians.

Click here to read the Twitter report.