As a professional political communications guy, I cringe at the thought of my candidate speaking in public. I much prefer a sanitized sound bite that I write, the candidate shapes, and I deliver. So my heart goes out to Senator Clair McCaskill’s aides, and the torment they must feel as she tweets 4-5 times a day.

But I am not on her staff.

The fact is, I absolutely love reading her tweets. As crazy as it sounds to professional politicos, this unedited  view into an elected official’s world makes me… like her. It makes me feel like I know her in a way that no paid media campaign ever could. Quite simply, Twitter forges the kind of connection most politicians only dream about.

So why the Senator tweets, to me, isn’t the question. The real question is why aren’t the other 534 members of Congress following her lead?

clairecmc:

I tweet an average of 4 to 5 times a day.  This has become a welcome discipline for me in Washington. As I am walking to a hearing, or riding the tram over for a vote, I think of what I want to tell the folks at home about my work or life. This, I believe, is a fairly decent way to stay connected. After all, I’m in Washington to work for them and this process reminds me of it several times a day.

Third, I use Twitter because no one can edit me. In a media world driven by an edited sound bite, and a Capitol Hill culture that parses, obfuscates, and works hard at saying nothing, we shouldn’t look down our noses at a few short declarative sentences. While this method of direct communication makes my staff nervous – they think it makes me look less “senatorial” — it is me.  I’m a Midwesterner, and this short simple way of speaking is my native tongue.

Finally, it’s fun. Trust me when I tell you that part of the problem in Washington is that folks there take themselves way too seriously. As I tweet about my college basketball team,  global warming, my kids, reverse mortgages, music, and  tax policy, or as I Tumblr blog about rules of voting on the budget  and my creamed spinach recipe, I’m staying connected, grounded, and I have a smile on my face.

You go, Senator! And thanks for the tweets.