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Opinion: Facebook group urges Barack Obama to pass on Evan Bayh

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As speculation about Barack Obama‘s choice for a running mate reaches a fever pitch, thousands of his supporters are turning to the Web to tell the candidate who he shouldn’t choose for vice president.

Membership in a Facebook group imploring Obama not to pick Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh shot from just a few people on Wednesday to 3,316 by around 6 p.m. (Pacific) today. The group, 100,000 Strong Against Evan Bayh for VP, criticizes Bayh as ‘a career legacy politician who fell hook, line, and sinker for the administration’s case for a disastrous war and dragged much of [the Democratic Party] with him.’

A Facebook group that supports an Obama-Bayh ticket only has 116 members.

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Ouch.

Now we all know Obama is tech-savvy. His campaign has relied heavily on the Internet to organize support, and he has promised to announce his VP pick through text messages to supporters.

But would he ever turn to Facebook to help make his selection?

Along with the anti-Bayh group, dozens of Facebook groups are pushing for various politicians to fill the spot. The most popular, a pro-Hillary Clinton group called Obama-Clinton 2008, boasts 1,724 members. She probably won’t get the nomination, but Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine still is considered a contender. More than 150 people belong to Tim Kaine for Vice President.

Republicans are weighing in, too.

Mitt Romney is the winner of the John McCain Facebook veepstakes. We Want Mitt Romney for Vice President! has 675 members. Mike Huckabee for Vice President 2008 is a distant second, with 187 members, and John McCain & Tim Pawlenty 2008 has a paltry 66.

Tom Ridge for Vice President has just 40.

Still, it might not be a great idea to rely too heavily on Facebook membership totals.

After all, more people belong to a Facebook group called The Hardest Part of a Zombie Apocalypse Will be Pretending I’m Not Excited than to all of the VP-related groups combined.

-- Kate Linthicum

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