Newt and Callista will be screening A City Upon a Hill in California Wednesday

Here is the link to the Gingrich Productions event page.

The movie explores American Exceptionalism.

What have people been Googling to find this blog?

Here are the top searches those who wind up on this site have punched into their search engine of choice were punching in Thursday going into Friday:

-- gingrich lean six sigma
-- newt gingrich lean six sigma
-- newt gingrich six sigma
-- lean six sigma gingrich
-- teamgingrich2012
-- gingrich debate 6 sigma
-- gingrich six sigma.

One of these things is not like the other.

For some background on Lean Six Sigma, here is a post I wrote about a month ago.

"What They’re Saying about Newt's Debate Performance"

The campaign put together this list of some of the praise Newt got for Thursday night's debate performance.

I will post a couple.

From Kevin Hall of IowaRepublican.com:

The former House speaker was fired up and had a terrific debate. Substance on the issues has always been his forte and Newt showed that. He was also combative with the moderators, demanding they ask substantive questions. The audience responded very strongly to that. Gingrich showed a fire and passion that conservatives are longing for. He would utterly dismantle Barack Obama in a one-on-one debate. It was a terrific performance.

Craig Robinson of the same website:

...his grasp of history and his ability to reference it in some of his answers is incredible…The best moment of the debate came when Gingrich took Fox News Anchor Chris Wallace to task. Doing so was risky, but Gingrich came off as the most serious candidate on the stage last night.

Iowa Radio Talk Show Host Steve Deace:

[Newt Gingrich] was forceful without looking undistinguished, aggressive without losing his self-dignity, informed, informative, and put leadership ahead of policy. This was the Gingrich of the 1994 Republican Revolution.

Craig Shirley:

Gingrich was simply head and shoulders above the rest. This is the Newt people have been waiting for; an articulate and forceful conservative who knows the world he lives in.

Go onto Newt.org and read the rest. Lots of great quotes.

Pictures of Newt's day at the Iowa State Fair

From the campaign:

From Don McDowell, who works for Iowa State Senate Leader Paul McKinley:

From Dave Weigel:

POLITICO writer Ben Smith tweeted: "Great crowd for Newt at the state fair."

Jim Shinn, who blogged about his prior experiences volunteering at the Newt 2012 Headquarters in Atlanta, tweeted today about making phone calls to Iowans.

Here are two of them:

Link.

Just spoke with a person in IA that was at the debate, he states Newt whipped them all, was not a Newt fan but is now.

Link.

Ending my calls for the day, what a difference, after the debate people are really fired up about Newt!

His blog is here.

Video of Newt's interview with Sean Hannity after the Ames Debate

Link to video of Newt's after-debate interview with Sean Hannity:

Keep the Newt 2012 Momentum Going: An Action Plan

Wow.

Tonight was Newt at his best, and it is reflected in him being the winner of the debate according to most observers. (See my earlier post here for more reaction to the debate.)

But we, as Newt supporters, need to help the momentum going. Here is a little bit of how you can support -- remember: be with Newt, not for him -- Newt 2012:

First, if you have not already, go to Newt.org and sign up. Give money if you can.

If you are on Facebook:

-- "Like" Newt's page if you, unlike 144,054 people as of this moment, do not already.

-- Sign up on Newt Volunteer's page, Create Jobs Now: Repeal Dodd-Frank, and Team 10: Small Government, Big Citizens.

-- I help run a Newt supporter group on Facebook as well.

If you are on Twitter:

-- Follow Newt's personal account, Newt2012HQ, Newt2012IA, Newt2012NH, Newt2012SC, Newt2012FL, Newt2012NV, and Newt2012GA.

-- Here is a list I have created of Newt 2012 staffers. You can follow it by clicking here.

-- When tweeting about Newt, please try to include the hashtag #withNewt.

-- My own personal account: JoshGosser1776.

Of course, spread the word about Newt to your friends and family.

Also, and not to distract from official Newt 2012 business, but you can sign up for e-mail updates from this site. (The e-mail will come in the morning and contains all posts from the previous day. The e-mail subscription box will not show up when viewing this on a mobile device but otherwise will be on the right side of the screen.)

If you are not in one of the early primary states, you can also sign up on your state's page on Newt50States.com, which I run.

Tonight (well, last night) was great for the campaign. We need to keep it going.

#withNewt.

Reaction to Newt's Ames Debate Performance

First, during the day, Katrina Trinko from National Review posted this picture:



Then, two Newt supporters in Iowa posted pictures of their views of the debate.

Jeremy Danilson:



Ashley Ervin:

Now onto the actual debate reaction. And what a positive reaction it was for Newt.

Among those saying Newt won: Craig Robinson of IowaRepublican.com, Iowa talk radio host Steve Deace, David Yepsen, pollster Frank Luntz, Pat Anderson, Rod D. Martin, Noel Sheppard, and Brent Bozell (who said Newt was "not just winning debate; he's crushing).

(For the full Newt2012HQ Twitter feed, in which many more calls of a Gingrich victory are included, click here.)

Some of my favorite tweets:

GregoryTapis:

You are killing everybody tonight...I cannot wait to caucus

JoNBCNews:

Audience coming out of debate overwhelmingly say Gingrich came away winner.

Strong_America (Strong America Now):

@newtgingrich just mentioned Lean Six Sigma in the Fox News debate! We need more talk on real solutions!

doesntmakecents:

@newtgingrich is right. Our country should be about efficiency, not waste. Lean six sigma. @Newt2012HQ

Kensley_Stewart:

The BEST idea out of the debate: Newt- implement Lean Sigma-Six in all areas of government.

Newt's campaign also proved its adeptness on social media by posting Newt's record on Facebook, then putting the link on Twitter, within minutes in response to moderator Chris Wallace.

Here is a video clip of Newt from the debate, in which he rips the "Super Congress" idea.

I will post another video clip, though not from the debate, of Newt discussing the fight to recall three Iowa judges last year who usurped power and voted to legalize gay marriage. (All three were defeated.) During the debate, former Senator Rick Santorum said he was the only candidate there who helped in the recall effort.

In the following video (starting at about the 2:16 mark), Bryan Fischer says Newt was "very involved, very supportive" in the effort.

Link.

Two videos of Newt on Fox News today

Link to Fox News Live interview.



Link for Fox & Friends interview.

Repeal Dodd-Frank -- now

There were two articles tweeted by the Newt 2012 Twitter account -- which you can follow it by clicking here -- about the damage Dodd-Frank is doing.

The first, posted on NationalReview.com, is titled: "Dodd-Frank: Wrong, Wrong, Wrong." With a subtitle of: How not to fix a problem.

The article reads:

[Dodd-Frank] doesn’t address at all the main discernible causes of the economic crisis of 2008, which have not gone away. The housing bubble and imprudent lending into it were the principal problem, and the principal culprit is the United States government, for legislating a substantial percentage of private-sector commercial mortgages to be on a non-commercial basis; for issuing executive orders to the giant, pseudo-private-sector Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make the majority of their mortgage loans on that basis; and for keeping interest rates and mortgage equity requirements so low for so long.

Here is the link again.

The other article, by Jeffrey Carter of the blog Points and Figures, explains how the legislation will increase food prices.

Carter writes:

Not only is it proving to restrict access to money by poor people, it is imposing crushing costs on smaller banks-effectively putting them out of business. This makes access to capital even tougher, because instead of going to a small bank where you can develop a relationship, a businessman now needs to go to a large monolith bank where they are a number.

Oh wait, there’s more.

Because of how the bill changes the way futures and options are regulated; along with how grain elevators and Futures Commission Merchants are regulated, your food costs are going up.

After quoting from the Federal Register, Carter continues:

Assume that you wanted to stay in business and not simply fold up your shop. What’s that verbiage going to cost you? The CFTC estimates that it will be somewhere between $16,750-$61,750 initially, and $12,600 annually once every member has a recording system. That means a farmer in a tractor that is talking to their broker monitoring the market all the way up the food chain to the hot shot trader on a trading desk.

No doubt that the costs will be significantly higher than that. Purely altering your operations will cost you more than that.

What’s that mean to the market?

These extra layers of regulation mean that producers will have to charge a higher price for food. The price will be passed down from the field through the elevator, through the trading pits, through the food producers, and greet you at the checkout counter at the grocery.

He concludes:

Repeal Dodd-Frank. Now. I appreciate the sentiment of the bill and think we need to do something with regard to banking, but this was obviously the wrong approach. It is as damaging as Obamacare. It is an economy destroyer.

Hint: Markets price in the future....

(elipsis in the original)

When Dodd-Frank is driving up costs for everyone, discouraging investment, drowning small banks in paperwork while making big banks even bigger, and increasing food prices, why is Newt the only candidate seriously talking of repealing the bill?

Why is he the one candidate who is being called "the community banking candidate?"

Video of a Newt 2012 campaign stop in Iowa from May

I obviously missed this video when it came online, but thought it was interesting, so I wanted to pass it along.

From the Daily Times Herald in Carroll, Iowa:

Video of Newt's interview with Greta from Wednesday

Link to video.

A few minutes of audio from Newt's conference call

Via CNSNews:

Human Events linked to my post from Saturday

Earlier today, I quoted from Tony Lee's Human Events' article. What I did not realize until I was almost done with the post was that Lee linked to this post of mine about Newt's Friday in Iowa last week.

Getting even a small mention on that website is especially cool for me because I have been a subscriber to the weekly paper since December 2005. It was also President Reagan's favorite newspaper.

Also, in a funny way, it is partially responsible for this blog. I first read about Newt's e-mail newsletter in the paper edition of Human Events, and those are what really got me wanting Newt to run for President. After purchasing Winning the Future -- in August 2006, coming up on five years -- thanks to the newsletters, I was sold that Newt needed to be in the Oval Office.

Two pieces from Human Events: one by Newt and one about Newt

Newt put out his weekly newsletter today, and the topic was United Nations funding. Newt writes:

Only at the United Nations is it possible to imagine a Palestinian state announced on a meeting agenda.

U.N. corruption was on full display last week when, as the Hudson Institute’s Anne Bayefsky​ noted, the U.N. published its provisional list of speakers for the September opening session.

It listed the speaker from “Palestine” as the “Head of State” for the first time ever.

This is just a preview of a diplomatic crisis and an existential threat to the state of Israel that is shaping up for September.

The Palestinian Authority is promising to ram ahead with its bid in just over a month to be recognized as a state at the United Nations, and the General Assembly will likely approve it over the objections of the United States and Israel.

This will define a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, stretching to the 1967 borders and encompassing territory that currently is home to thousands of Israelis.

It is a dangerous plan.

It would violate every standing agreement the Palestinians have with Israel, including the Oslo Accords, to negotiate a final border agreement.

U.N. recognition would take place totally apart from any negotiation with Israel, and without the Palestinians renouncing violence or acknowledging Israel's statehood.

...

In spite of the U.N.’s totally dishonest approach to Israel, President Obama apparently retains faith in what is clearly a corrupt organization. The Administration’s commitment to “multilateralism” at the U.N. is nothing more than appeasement.

President Obama and the State Department must be clear with Western allies. They should reject action that would reward terrorist groups who refuse to abide by the basic principles of human dignity and freedom.

...

The United States has the leverage to prevent this diplomatic disaster if the Obama Administration wants to use it: we are by far the largest donor to the U.N., financing roughly a quarter of its entire budget.

We should be willing to say that if the U.N. is going to circumvent negotiations and declare the territory of one of its own members an independent state, we aren’t going to pay for it. We can keep our $7.6 billion a year.

We don’t need to fund a corrupt institution to beat up on our allies.

That is exactly how President George H. W. Bush and Secretary of State James Baker handled a similar drive to force Palestinian statehood in 1989.

...

That is the resolve we need to show today. Washington should make clear immediately that it will not accept dangerous stunts that threaten Israel’s survival.

When the U.N. is set to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state and Israel is the only country in the world not even permitted to determine its own capital, something is very wrong.

The time to stop this disaster is before it happens. The time for Congress and President Obama to set out the cost of a United Nations betrayal of Israel is before the General Assembly meets.

Here is the link to the full newsletter again.

Also appearing on HumanEvents.com today was an article by Tony Lee, who is helping cover the GOP Presidential Primary for the conservative publication.

Some excerpts:

"We had a group of paid professionals who had not worked for me before," Gingrich said. "If I were to do it over again, I would not have hired the paid professionals."

When the consultants left, Gingrich had to reboot his strategy, and said he would finally run the campaign he had always wanted.

Gingrich rattled off what seemed like an idea a second, which included repealing the Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley Acts that he says are discouraging investors. He called President Obama​ an "anti-American energy" President. He called for a modernized Food and Drug Administration that can help create jobs. He spoke of Executive Orders he would sign on his first day in office and ways to make the legislative process in Congress more open and transparent to gain back the trust of the American people. He cited his time in Congress, when he believes he was responsible for balancing the budget and helping end welfare programs and begin the modernization of some previously untouchable entitlement programs.

Gingrich said he's building a "substantive, solutions-oriented" campaign with positive ads and speeches. He also said he'll be upbeat at the debates and hinted he would not cut down his competitors.

"My debates will be positive," Gingrich said. "Not so much about Obama and maybe not about the news media, but I will be [positive] about the other candidates."

In the pre-social media days of campaigning, Gingrich probably would have had no chance of reviving his campaign.

But with the proliferation of social media that makes access to information cheaper while proliferating it at a rapid clip, a candidate can gain momentum as fast as he can lose it.

With a lean budget, Gingrich will rely ever more on social media to put himself into the conversation.

For instance, his campaign to repeal the Dodd-Frank bill cost the campaign nothing because it took them three hours to set it up on Facebook. The same is true for video and telephone conferencing services.

And today, Gingrich rolled out a “Team 10” initiative, which is “about reasserting this basic principle, and creating smaller government by working together and being bigger citizens” and reminding Americans that the country “is exceptional because we believe sovereignty begins with the individual” and “we loan power to the government, not the other way around.”

According to a press release, Tea Party and 912 Project leaders will lead Team 10, and through a Facebook app, they will solicit ideas on how to limit Washington’s overreach and enforce the 10th Amendment.

In addition, according to the release, “through voting, online and in-person events, and talking with each other, the best of these ideas will eventually become a ‘10th Amendment Enforcement Act,’ and “as the Republican nominee, Gingrich would include” it as part of a new Contract with America.

These initiatives that integrate social media with politics and policy put Gingrich ahead of the curve, which is why he scoffed at unsubstantiated rumors that many of his Twitter followers (Gingrich was ahead of the curve in successfully adopting the medium) were artificial.

“Folks who want to criticize me about using technology should come on [Google +] with me and create a hangout,” Gingrich said, insisting that unfounded rumors that a majority of his Twitter followers were artificially generated were “baloney.”

Gingrich also noted that he is proud that he has called for the Republican Party to be a more inclusive to minorities and noted the diversity of his audience at a recent Iowa campaign event.

“We did an event in Des Moines last Thursday night, and we had over 20 Chinese-American students,” Gingrich said, noting such diversity is sometimes lacking in Republican audiences.

Gingrich feels confident enough in his ideas that he still sees a viable path to the nomination.

“As the economy gets worse and the world gets more dangerous, people will look up and say, ‘Who could debate Obama successfully next October and who could actually govern effectively if they were elected?” Gingrich said. “And that will steadily lead to an increase in support.”

As proof, Gingrich cited a recent Johnson County event in Iowa in which, according to him, “Every reporter who was there said the room changed decisively when I was there, and the people walked out saying ‘He’s the guy [to beat Obama].’ ”

The coverage of Gingrich’s event in Johnson County backs up Gingrich’s claim. Reporters from outlets across the spectrum noted that, among the four presidential candidates who were present at the event, Gingrich received the longest standing ovation and generated the most buzz.

Here is the full article link again.

A story about Newt's campaign from Sioux City Journal

Here is a story written by James Q. Lynch:

Iowa Republicans who get a call from someone with a Southern drawl talking to them about Newt Gingrich's campaign for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination know it's not their neighbor calling.

Neither is it a paid telemarketer.

Those folks asking you to support "Neuwt" are his Georgia volunteers who the former Speaker of the House has mobilized in the wake of a much publicized shake-up in his campaign.

The "very soft" phone-banking says is a direct contrast to his rivals who are doing "a lot of frantic organizing for the Ames straw poll" Aug. 13, Gingrich said after a luncheon speech to 50-plus Linn County Republicans.

"From my perspective, the real election is in January," said Gingrich, who won't be in Iowa until the end of the week. Apparently he's anticipating the caucuses, now scheduled for Feb. 6, will have to be moved up to stay ahead of primaries and caucuses in other states. "I don't feel this summer is the time to make that pitch."

...

"I'm listening to people," says Gingrich. He's become more reflective since leaving office in 1999. Now he tries "to understand and reach bigger, long-term solutions."

"You have to learn and then you have to think and then you get to lead. It's a cycle of learning, thinking leading,"

He's learning the "world out here is radically different than the world of Washington and the world of experts."

Gingrich, who was traveling with two staffs, says running a lean campaign "gets you down to a pace of you and the voters. Where you and the voters are connecting and there's not a lot of clutter in between."

"This is who I am," he says about the downsized campaign.

He's replaced the consultants with his Georgia volunteers making phone calls and teleconference calls on various issues. He's using Google+ free video conferences to have "genuinely two-way conversations and real dialogue."

After the Republican Party of Iowa/Fox News debate Aug. 11 and the Iowa GOP Straw Poll, Gingrich plans to ramp up his campaign. Starting in September there will be nearly a debate a week, he says, which will allow him to "get into substance in a big way."

While he is taking the campaign trail less traveled for the moment, Gingrich insists he knows how to run a "big" campaign.

"I've been on campaign swings. I get it. I've done events with 10,000 people," he says. "We'll get to the point. I suspect that by November, December we'll be looking a lot more like a traditional campaign.

In the meantime, Gingrich is crafting a very specific set of proposals based on what he's hearing from Iowans. Once he has the message, it won't take long to deliver it, he says.

"We live in an age of very fast communication," Gingrich says. "If we figure out the messages that are real, that are historically right, that also resonate with people, if we get them down right, we can communicate them to every person in Iowa in six days."

Recap of Newt's conference call on Team 10

Today, Newt held a conference call with tea party and 912 leaders, as well as some journalists, on the launch of his new project: Team 10. It is, to quote Newt's Facebook post today, "focused on gathering ideas from the American people for how to enforce the 10th Amendment and return power back home to the states and the people. The best ideas will eventually be included in a new Contract with America." It will result in actual legislation, added Gingrich, "The 10th Amendment Enforcement Act."

You can submit your own ideas or just vote and comment on ideas already submitted here.

On the call, Newt said he will be listening to people's ideas in person, on Facebook, on Google+ hangouts, conference calls like the one he was on, and other platforms.

This is key to his campaign model of "solutions, not rhetoric," said Newt, adding that he ultimately hopes to get this to the level of the Contract with America, which created a mandate for the newly-elected House Republican majority once they were sworn in in January 1995. By running on such a bold set of proposals -- the 10th Amendment, repealing Dodd-Frank, an American energy policy, etc. -- the liberals who oppose him will not be to argue that the American people do not support those actions once Newt is inaugurated in 2013.

Furthermore, Newt hopes that Team 10 catches on so much that in the coming months House and Senate candidates sign on, creating a unified Republican platform for next year's election. Related to that, he was adamant this was not "a Gingrich movement" but one that will require the grassroots be very involved in drafting it, building support, and seeing through its ultimate passage.

After asking "why would you want a federal bureaucracy writing federal rules for all fifty states?" Newt specifically brought up the Department of Education. "What if you dropped a lot of the paperwork and a lot of the bureaucracy" of No Child Left Behind, Newt asked, and bring that power back to local school boards.

Newt also noted the federal overreach in health care, relating the story of a doctor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, last week who brought to one event a letter from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service that detailed how she should run her office, as if she had never attended medical school or already been practicing medicine, Newt noted.

Relaying the history of the 10th Amendment, Gingrich made a point of saying that up until the 1930s, the federal government had just a few responsibilities, such as the post office, border control, and national defense. Since then, the 10th Amendment has been "ignored" by most Presidents and Congresses. Paying attention to it would go a long way to re-centering our government, the former Speaker says.

Because it would reduce spending -- on both the federal and local levels (local because federal regulations would be eliminated -- and thus the deficit, Gingrich argued enforcing the 10th Amendment should be a focus of the Gang of 12 (the "Super Congress") later this year.

Another idea to bring down the deficit would be to follow Strong America Now's lead and implement Lean Six Sigma, another topic, along with the repeal of Dodd-Frank, that Newt has been in the lead on. It would save federal taxpayers about $500 billion annually, as well as making agencies such as the FDA much more effective. A "big, big idea," Gingrich says.

Not specifically related to Team 10, but when someone on the line asked if he thinks Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner should resign because of the S&P downgrade, Newt replied Geithner should not be in that position, not specifically for the downgrade but just his general economic performance. As well as that of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke -- Gingrich called both of their performances "disastrous," and called again for an audit of the Federal Reserve.

Newt 2012 Press Release: "Iowans See Leadership in Gingrich's Big Ideas"

Here is the full release:

Newt campaigned in Iowa last week marking his fifth trip to the state since the Fourth of July. Stops included meeting with business leaders in Cedar Rapids, an employee town hall at Johnston based Pioneer Hi-Bred, a lawn party in Des Moines hosted by former Congressman Greg Ganske and a candidate BBQ that included McCotter, Santorum and Pawlenty along with Gingrich in Tiffin, IA sponsored by the Johnson County GOP.


Solutions, Solutions, Solutions

Cedar Rapids Gazette: “He’s engaging voters with his solutions … he’s treating us as if we are adults,” said [Dan] Seufferlein, who introduced Gingrich...Gingrich’s solutions are his appeal, added Dean Rothchild of Cedar Rapids. “He has a record of accomplishments,” said Rothchild, who said that if he goes to the straw poll he’ll “probably mark down Gingrich’s name. ” Article


Newt: Dodd Frank is to Banks What Obamacare is to Healthcare

Des Moines Register: "....The crowd applauded loudly when he advocated repealing the act." [Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.]....Gingrich attended a lawn party hosted by former U.S. Rep. Greg Ganske in Des Moines on Thursday night. About 85 people attended the event, huddling under a tent in Ganske’s backyard to avoid getting wet from a gentle rain that began at about the time Gingrich arrived. Article


Employee Town Hall Meeting at Pioneer Hi-Bred

Des Moines Register “…at Pioneer [Hi-Bred], [Gingrich] was well-received. “He’s got a terrific mind,” said Dan Cosgrove, a vice president at Pioneer. “He’s got a lot of really good ideas – major ideas – not minor changes, but true change. ” Article

OpEd: Why We need a 21st-Century Food & Drug Administration. Article


"Loudest waves of applause"

IowaPolitics.com: “It was Gingrich’s 20-minute speech that sent the loudest waves of applause and laughter reverberating off the cinder block walls…“He had a very dynamic message,” said [Julie] Crook, a quality control inspector at Hanson Directory Service, Inc. “What he wants to do with the government if he became president is what I would want to do to. So I was very impressed with that. ” Eastern Iowa rally lights up for Gingrich by Hannah Hess, IowaPolitics.com. Article

Tweets from Tiffin...

NBC News's Alexandra Moe (@AlexNBCNews): @newtgingrich getting more applause at Tiffin #Iowa event than first 2 speakers Tweet

Political Columnist Kathie Obradovich (@KObradovich): Gingrich is putting on a clinic on how to give a stump speech. The audience is eating it up. #iacaucus Tweet

Newt discussing Strong America Now on Hannity's radio show

Here is the audio of Newt discussing Strong America Now on Sean Hannity's radio show last week.

A News Station in the UK quoted me

From Channel 4 News in the United Kingdom:

But Josh Gosser who set up the Team Gingrich blog thinks the opposite. He explained why he thinks Gingrich is so big on Twitter.

He told Channel 4 News: "He doesn't just use it as a way to get out press releases; he says things in a way that fits the platform of Twitter very well.

"Newt will actually reply to people on Twitter, which is very unusual for someone running for any office, let alone president."

Someone from the station e-mailed me last week, and that was my reply.

Here were my full answers:

1. I think he has a large following for the reasons Politico gave in this article. He doesn't just use it as a way to get out press releases; he says things in a way that fits the platform of Twitter very well. Tony Lee of Human Events also noted on Twitter the other day that Newt was ahead of the game on most every other politician when it came to Twitter. To quote him: Newt "was one of the 20 everyone followed when 1st signing up. Even DC chefs got on Twitter bc of Newt." I will also say that Newt will actually reply to people on Twitter, which is very unusual for someone running for any office, let alone President.

2. Twitter is important because many people feel that the traditional media leaves them out of the conversation.As with Facebook, it gives those people a voice as well as allowing campaigns to cut through all the clutter and communicate to their supporters easier.