Shurtleff mistakenly 'tweets' campaign plans

Two candidates sort of — but not really — announced their possible candidacies for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Utah Republican Sen. Bob Bennett.

The most surprising was a candidate who has unofficially been campaigning for the seat for months, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who surprised himself more than anyone when he sent a series of messages through his Twitter account that essentially repeated what he has already said: that he is running, and he will announce soon.

The messages were written in typical Twitter shorthand, which is akin to text messages, and broken into four messages because of the 140 character limit on "tweets." His account, which he has actively used for months, is markshurtleff.

In the messages, Shurtleff said he will announce his candidacy at 12:30 p.m. May 20, a date previously reported. He also said that he will announce with "all of the legislative causcus (sic) and other senators and representatives there endorsing me. Time to rock and roll!"

As for fundraising, Shurtleff said he "should have no trouble" raising up to $2 million. However, he also said he plans to knock "him," most likely meaning Bennett, out at convention.

Within 30 minutes, Shurtleff had removed the Twitter postings. Later in the day — which was actually the middle of the night for him, since he is currently on a trade mission with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. in Israel — he posted a follow-up message.

"Thinking of 'texting while drowsy' law after private 1AM tweet went public. Formal announcement on 5/20 about senate race and tweeting plans," he wrote, this time keeping under the 140-character limit.

The Shurtleff postings are yet another flirtation with a formal announcement for the 2010 race, something which has actually gone on for months. Already, his yet-to-be-official campaign has tired some political observers.

"Shurtleff has postponed this announcement so many times, he's starting to look like Fred Thompson," said Kirk Jowers, head of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics. The actor-turned-politician kept putting off getting into the race for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, and once Thompson did get in the race, he didn't stay long. Jowers said there's a danger of voters losing interest in Shurtleff's candidacy.

"There have been three months of potential dates when he might announce," Jowers said. "Each time, it's become less and less interesting."