"What started as a microprotest on Mr Culberson's Twitter page became a macroconflict on Capitol Hill with the two sides feuding on blogs, BlackBerrys and the old-fashioned way -- face-to-face meetings in the halls of Congress," says The New York Times.
Because of rules proposed by Mr Capuano, Democrat of Massachusetts, "to prevent members from using public money to communicate on outside Web sites featuring commercial and political advertisements," Culberson tweeted:
"Before I could post a Tweet I would have to get approval of the twits that run the House!" And an hour later: "The Dems will do this unless the Internet community stops them."
But Mr Capuano says in a statement: "We are not currently seeking to address anything other than video -- not blog postings, online chats or any other written form of communication anywhere on the Internet. Any assertion to the contrary is a lie."
They'll probably work something out. New technologies emerge, and some politicians will always try to get an edge by using them before they become widely accepted. Still, the gap between emergence and exploitation is getting shorter all the time....
