President 2012 Video: GOP Uses Social Media to Respond to Obama Campaign Launch

Quite a difference from the 2008 campaign.

If the Republicans’ response to President Barack Obama’s campaign launch Monday is any indication, social media will play a major role in the 2012 election.

Shortly after Obama’s first video for the campaign went up, Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor and potential GOP candidate for the 2012 presidential race, released a YouTube retort. The video (below), which has the urgent music of an action film, features Pawlenty responding to an Obama sound bite, by asking, “How can America win the future when we’re losing the present?” Pawlenty concludes, “In order for America to take a new direction, it’s going to take a new president.”

Since its release Monday, the video has gotten about 53,000 views, compared with 168,000 for Obama’s. Pawlenty also released the video on his Facebook Page, which has 81,000 fans. Obama has close to 19 million Facebook fans.

Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, the GOP has made great strides in technological aided communication since the 2008 campaign. This was evident in the 2010 midterm elections and will be expanded during the coming election cycle.