Grassley Ad Touts Tweets to Keep Hitch Out of His Giddy-up

Chuck Grassley, whose wife, Barbara, has fretted that he might have a Twitter affliction, assures Iowans that it’s just that he’s incurably attracted to serving them. And the Republican U.S. senator, who will turn 77 on Friday and has been a public servant for the Hawkeye State for more than half a century, even has a campaign commercial waxing lightly about his penchant for using social media, according to The Caucus political blog in The New York Times. Grassley, who was a state rep for 16 years and a congressman for six, is the odds-on favorite to win his sixth term in the Senate in his race against Democrat Roxanne Conlin in November.

The commercial hints that the senator has an illness, as a woman says, worriedly: “I heard Chuck Grassley has a Twitter.”

Her companion, equally concerned, says: “Oh, can it be cured?”

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That’s when the senator appears, assuring folks he just gets wrapped up in Facebook and Twitter to keep them abreast of things: “I’ll tweet. I’ll text. I’ll do whatever it takes. I work for you.”

His constituents seem to appreciate his dexterity, prompting him to Tweet thusly: “Thx 2 my followers Im in Top 10 tweeters in Congress Gr8 way 4 me 2 listn & talk 2 Iowans RT so more can follow 2.”

BTW: Barbara does ban the banter sometimes. She recently told an Iowa news outlet that she has pulled the plug on his tweeting in church, according to The Caucus.