CNN political analyst John King impressed Twitter users with his county-by-county electoral map knowledge tonight—not to mention the touch-screen map that's become part of his signature reporting style in recent years. Priorities USA Action, a PAC that has been buying up Promoted Tweets to push president Obama's reelection candidacy this week, took notice, as "John King" was a trend on Twitter during tonight's coverage.
The marketers for the political action committee bought the Promoted Tweet for his name at around 10 p.m. ET on Twitter's real-time bidding platform. People who clicked on the "John King" hash-tag saw the following tweet copy from the Democratic-leaning org:
Voters still in line hang in there! There's a lot at stake tonight. bit.ly/rwtPIT#election2012
— PrioritiesUSA Action (@Priorities2012) November 7, 2012
Some other Twitter highlights from tonight included predictions that Obama would be projected as the winner over his GOP rival Mitt Romney fairly early in the night (which, turned out to be true, though many Twitter users were quicker to make that call than network anchors):
I am confident in saying that President Obama is going to carry the state of Florida tonight. bit.ly/PpLrD1#Current2012
— Al Gore (@algore) November 7, 2012
With 20 million tweets, Election Day just became the most tweeted about event in US political history. #election2012
— Twitter Government (@gov) November 7, 2012
Congrats to my Dem friends. Best wishes for the new administration.Will continue to provide the loyal opposition.
— Avik S. A. Roy (@aviksaroy) November 7, 2012
Obama wins. Popular vote still unclear.
— John Ellis (@41jellis) November 7, 2012
That's a buy, I think. RT @cpheinze: Obama just popped to 85 on Intrade; Romney at 10.2
— Michael B Dougherty (@michaelbd) November 7, 2012
ABC News sources say that Jeb Bush told The Romney campaign that they lost Florida
— Raúl De Molina (@rauldemolina) November 7, 2012