Veepstakes: How Romney’s Potential Picks Stack Up On Social Media

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney's selection of a running mate — the "veepstakes" — may be drawing near. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty may be the leading contender, but there are plenty of other names being tossed around — including Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

All three of these potential vice presidential candidates have a web and social media presence, so let's take a look:

Tim Pawlenty

Pawlenty, known as T-Paw, is considered to have the strongest chance of sharing the ticket with Romney — but his Internet presence is pretty thin.

His website is currently under construction. Visitors are greeted with a "coming soon page" that states simply, and perhaps disappointingly, "Please come back later."

A trip backwards through time in the Wayback Machine reveals that his page was formerly designed as a campaign site for his failed presidential bid. He suspended his campaign after a poor showing in the Iowa straw poll in August 2011, later backing Romney.

On Facebook, Pawlenty has just under 100,000 Likes, despite a relatively bare-bones profile. Updates have been sparse, with none since early last month. The profile doesn't appear to take advantage of the recently redesigned Facebook profiles — there's no cover photo and lots of blank space. He has two Likes of his own: the Iowa GOP and the Minnesota Vikings.

@timpawlenty, which has about 66,800 followers, is most often used to alert fans of media appearances, share Romney-friendly news and opinion pieces or tweet messages in support of the Romney campaign — plus more than a few Twitpic photos. He rarely interacts with his followers.

Pawlenty's YouTube profile, meanwhile, is perhaps his most active: he's got 191 videos with 1.2 million views between them. Most are simply clips of media appearances, while others are leftover campaign ads from his failed presidential bid.

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio, a U.S. Senator from Florida, has been discussed as a potential vice presidential candidate for some time, but the chatter hit overdrive this week following President Obama's immigration policy change (Rubio is a proponent of immigration reform).

Compared to Pawlenty, Rubio's online profile is vast (to be fair, all sitting members of Congress have at least a website). His website is aesthetically pleasing and a breeze to navigate, even if it's clearly based on a template. Rubio's also got a mobile-friendly website as well as a cross-platform app, both of which package his site for mobile devices.

On Facebook, Rubio has 17,545 fans and a well fleshed-out page, complete with cover photo, recent press releases and links to articles about his work in the Senate. The same is true of his Twitter account, which has 6,750 followers – but alas, few of his tweets are two-way interactions. Instead, it's mostly policy statements and self-promotion.

Rubio's YouTube page, with its two million views, is mostly a collection of clips from media appearances.

Paul Ryan

Paul Ryan, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin, made a name for himself after introducing the "Pathway to Prosperity," a budget proposal that he believes would reduce the deficit by reducing the size of government. His perceived budgetary expertise combined with his good rapport with Romney has led many experts to consider him likely near the top of Romney's VP shortlist.

Ryan's website, like Rubo's, is standard fare for a sitting lawmaker — news releases, links to media outlets reporting about Ryan, Ryan's stances on major issues and his contact information. It's also easy to navigate, but it's a bit more cluttered and less pleasant than Rubio's page.

Meanwhile, Ryan's Facebook page, which has more than 102,000 fans, is clearly designed to highlight his position as first and foremost an economic thinker: his cover photo is a chart showing the claimed debt reduction his "Ryan Plan" budget would bring. Ryan's Facebook posts include media appearances and budget-related articles.

On Twitter, Ryan tweets to 138,000 followers about his policy positions and media appearances, sometimes interacting with other GOP bigwigs such as Speaker of the House John Boehner.

Thx! -> RT @speakerboehner: Watch @RepPaulRyan discuss the federal budget in interview w/ @EWTN Global Catholic Network bit.ly/I3XAXh

— Paul Ryan (@RepPaulRyan) April 20, 2012

Ryan relies on two platforms for video — Reprints