Ted Strickland, a relatively unknown former Ohio governor, has become an overnight sensation thanks to his one-liner-laced speech at the Democratic National Convention.
“Barack Obama saved the American auto industry. Mitt Romney saved on his taxes.”
That line of Strickland’s was tweeted over 150 times in 12 hours, according to social analytics tool Topsy. Minutes after his speech, his name was a trending topic on Twitter.
“If Mitt was Santa Claus, he’d fire the reindeer and outsource the elves.”
The “Santa Claus” line was attached to many of the submissions on Strickland on social news site Reddit. One thread, linking to a Huffington Post article containing the text of Strickland’s speech, is currently climbing with over 200 upvotes in the past 12 hours.
A YouTube video of the speech, uploaded by PBS Newshour, currently has over 4,000 views. Copies of the video, both in whole and part, are seeing view counts in the hundreds and thousands as word of Strickland spreads.
Reaction to Strickland’s points ranged from support to anger.
“So proud to be an Ohioan as I watch Governor Ted Strickland make an impassioned case for reelecting President Obama,” Jacob Manser tweeted.
“Alot [sic] of ranting with no factual basis other than ones that make Obama looks good. What about all the auto jobs lost in Ohio???,” Mickey Matteson commented on YouTube.
Only time will tell if Strickland’s jabs eclipse the Clint Eastwood’s conversations with an empty chair from the Republican National Convention.
Photo by Dana Beveridge/Flickr