Politics In 140 Characters Or LessPolitics In 140 Characters Or Less

Congressional bluster is fast making its way into the Web 2.0 era. Case in point: Rep. John Culberson, R-Tex., who spoke at the Gov 2.0 Summit on Wednesday.At first glance, Culbertson, who's become known as one of the heaviest Twittering public officials, looks like any other digital immigrant: he's a bit older, wearing a suit, and, well, he sounds like a typical Congressman. However, that belies the fact that this is an RSS-using, Tweeting, iGoogler who sees new possibilities to reach his constituents, make himself known and do research online.

For example, Culberson, founder and co-chair of the Republican New Media Caucus, is working on an upgraded Website for his constituents. Though he has 135,000 people on his e-mail blasts, he wants to have more real-time chats with his constituents, who will become part of a social network -- he mentions Google's forthcoming Wave collaboration tool as an inspiration.

"What I want is to strike fear in to the hearts of every elected official," Culberson, a prolific Twitterer, said of his goals in using social media, clearly referring to what he sees as behind-closed-doors, Democratic drafting of bills. "Sunlight is a great disinfectant." Culberson himself Tweets from the floor of Congress, and has his own Qik page where he posts videos about what he's working on.

Though he's an avid social media user, the way he frames his use shows that, as Lotus founder Mitch Kapor said later, the Gov 2.0 movement won't lose the typical political bent of inside-the-beltway chatter. When he showed up on stage, he slammed down a fat stack of papers he said was the "garbage" healthcare bill and said that government could no longer do business behind closed doors because of the Internet crowd's effects on bills like that one.

Culberson also intends to post on his Website maps overlaid with data to back up his positions on issues like cap and trade's potential detrimental effects on employment in his Congressional district. "The Internet is the most powerful truth engine ever created," he said, omitting the fact that the Internet has also been a powerful engine to spread untruths to willing believers.