This will be my final look at MD02 before the election. I have been a little disappointed in the lack on online outreach in this race and Congressman Ruppersberger will be the beneficiary in November (I believe). Here are the most recent numbers…

The candidates: To see the full list of candidates click here

(D) Dutch Ruppersberger: http://www.dutchforcongress.com/

(R) Pat McDonough: http://www.patmcdonoughforcongress.com

The Scorecard: (Click the “Yes” or follower numbers below to view the social media page)

Democrat Candidate(s)	Facebook Followers	Twitter Followers
Dutch Ruppersberger	6,342 (-9)	7,179 (+104)
Pat McDonough	8,632 (+22)	1,332 (+10)

Notes:

• Ruppersberger – added 104 new Twitter followers over the past month (nice job). Ruppersberger lost nine followers on Facebook (that is never a good sign for a campaign).
• McDonough – added 22 new Facebook followers. McDonough added only 10 new Twitter followers.

A significant factor in evaluating online outreach is looking at follower engagement. In October, I am back to focusing my reviews on Facebook engagement. Here are the numbers for the candidates over the past week:

Notes:

• McDonough was the most active over the past week and received BY FAR the most engagement (likes, shares and comments).
• Only one post from Dutch over the past week…he really needs to get a staffer on that account.

Online outreach leader for October: I would lean toward McDonough solely based on the Facebook engagement numbers…but only a VERY slight edge. Neither candidate is doing a great job with online outreach….there is still 33 days for each campaign to pick up the pace.

Of course the reality of followers, likes, and subscribers does not mean a lot when it comes down to voting in the end, but it can show trends in a campaign cycle and makes a great resource for following all of the candidates.

Scott E