Shurtleff enters Bennett primary on Twitter, accidentally

Aaron Blake has the story on the perils of politicians using Twitter:

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff (R) inadvertently tipped his hand Tuesday that he’ll enter the primary against Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) in 2010, falling victim to the very technology another primary candidate used to enter the race on purpose.

Following a Twitter announcement from former congressional candidate Tim Bridgewater (R) that he would challenge Bennett, Shurtleff fired off a series of Twitter messages that he thought were private.

The writing is strange and hard to decipher, but the message is clear: Shurtleff is in.

“I’m announcing I’m running at 12,” he wrote in one.

“[I]t will also be against Bennett and I’ll pick up his delegates when he drops off the first ballot,” Shurtleff writes, ostensibly referring to the multi-ballot nominating process at the Utah GOP’s state convention.

He says in another that he will have “all of the legislative conservative causcus [sic] and other senators and representatives there endorsing me. Time to rock and roll!”

Finally, Shurtleff seems to realize the messages he thought were responses to an individual were actually going out of everybody following his feed. He deleted them, but they were saved for posterity.

Tweeting from Israel, where he is on a trade mission, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, he promised to make an official announcement next week.

“Thinking of ‘texting while drowsy’ law after private 1AM tweet went public,” he wrote. “Formal announcement on 5/20 about senate race and tweeting plans”

“Texting while drowsy” – now that’s a new one!

jeremy.jacobs@digital-stage.thehill.com