Facebook, the popular social media site, has become an engine for determining public interest in political candidates in Arkansas. If you’re not on Facebook this post won’t mean anything to you. But if you are, there’s a good chance that you heard about Draft Shane Broadway, an effort on Facebook to encourage state Sen. Shane Broadway to run for the 2nd congressional district seat being vacated by Rep. Vic Snyder.
A Facebook group for Paul Suskie, chairman of the public service commission and a former candidate for attorney general, went live last night in support of his bid (still unannounced) for Congress.
Today, Draft Davy Carter went live on Facebook to encourage state Rep. Davy Carter of Cabot to run for the first congressional district seat being vacated by Rep. Marion Berry.
The fan page option of Facebook allows supporters of political candidates to gauge public interest. To-date, Facebook hasn’t driven someone into a political race in Arkansas. But as the site becomes more popular in Arkansas it will be interesting to what if any impact it has.