Candidates compete to go viral

Candidates are competing hard to go viral on social media in 2016.

President Obama may be big on selfie sticks, which he recently took to the Alaskan wilderness, but campaigns are looking for even more creative ways to court voters and drum up enthusiasm.

{mosads}On the Democratic side, the hashtag #FeelTheBern has become synonymous with Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) upstart campaign and helped translate the online presence to large crowds on the trail.

“It takes a village, and the village really showed up,” said Winnie Wong, co-founder of People for Bernie, the group behind the popular hashtag.

On the Republican side, the 17 candidates are forced to consider fresh approaches to distinguish themselves from one of the most crowded fields in recent memory.

Candidates have been used social media to hit at their rivals, with Jeb Bush going hard at GOP front-runner Donald Trump.

Here’s a look at some of the most memorable attempts by campaigns to go viral this summer:

Rand Paul’s chainsaw to the tax code

One of the more memorable viral attempts came with Sen. Rand Paul’s (Ky.) mid-July video taking a chainsaw to the tax code in an effort to “kill” it. In the clip, which got more than 150,000 YouTube views and was teased more than a week earlier on Instagram, Paul also torched stacks of papers and fed them to a wood chipper to sell his plan for a simplified tax code and flat tax rate of 14.5 percent.

Following that stunt, Paul’s campaign released a smartphone app allowing Apple and Android users to create memes and selfies bearing his likeness. The app reportedly contains a hidden arcade game letting players zap the campaign logos of Paul’s rivals.

 

Lindsey Graham’s cellphone

After Donald Trump revealed Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) cell phone number in late July, the senator starred in an elaborate video with IJReview instructing people on “how to destroy your cell phone.”

The viral response making light of getting “doxed” by the celebrity real estate tycoon led to days of social media buzz and jokes, turning the tables on an embarrassing event.

 

Trump’s Twitter insults

Donald Trump towers over the 2016 field in social media, using it as a weapon against political and media foes. The outspoken billionaire is particularly active on Twitter, using it several times daily for personally criticizing opponents, sharing flattering polls and engaging supporters.

Trump’s affinity for the social network is reaping big buzz online as he creeps toward Hillary Clinton’s 4.17 million followers. Trump has also more recently embraced Instagram as his platform of choice for launching broadsides against his 2016 rivals.

One video posted last week uses former first lady Barbara Bush’s claim that America has “had enough Bushes” against her son, Jeb Bush. The video received more than 14,000 likes.

 

Even Barbara Bush agrees with me.

A video posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Aug 24, 2015 at 10:15am PDT

But nothing has gained as much attention as his retweets of comments critical of Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. Trump twice retweeted comments calling her a “bimbo,” sparking outrage and criticism from Kelly’s Fox co-workers.

“@mstanish53: @realDonaldTrump @megynkelly The bimbo back in town . I hope not for long .”

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2015

 

Ready to go ‘Ridin with Biden’?

Would Vice President Joe Biden, a car aficionado, drop a campaign bus for a Corvette C7 Stingray sports car? That’s how organizers behind the Draft Biden 2016 super-PAC imagined their movement back in April with the message: “I’m ridin’ with Biden.” The image quickly went viral.

The group, which hopes to help Biden hit the ground running should he launch a White House bid, also offered chocolate bars branded with the slogan at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting last week.  

The ‘ridin’ slogan remains stuck in neutral, however, with Biden still weighing whether to jump in the race.

 

Bush’s candidate quiz 

Jeb Bush’s team is flexing its online muscle at Trump and the other GOP contenders.

Bush has also questioned Trump’s conservative bona fides on social media, posting to Twitter a personal note from the businessman calling House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) “the greatest.” After Trump finally signed a GOP pledge to forego a third-party run, another tweet mocked him, noting that Bush has “voted Republican since 1972.”

 

.@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/RbagyBXspr

— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) September 3, 2015

But Bush took on all of his rivals in an interactive quiz released earlier this week that went viral. The online mock survey asked participants “Which candidate are you?” with questions designed to ridicule past statements or stances from rivals.

The last question was also a shot at Trump, who was described as “a germaphobe when it comes to shaking hands.” Bush was described as a candidate who “strives to shake every hand.” Trump has avoided shaking hands on the trail, citing his concerns over germs and personal hygiene.

 

#FeelTheBern

Bernie Sanders’ surge in several polls in early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire, along with a slew of campaign events drawing tens of thousands of supporters, are typically found in tweets and Instagram posts adorned with the #FeelTheBern hashtag.

“With the #FeelTheBern hashtag, there’s really a lot of buy in,” said Winnie Wong, from People for Bernie. The phrase is also on Sanders’s campaign merchandise, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak pushed it out to his Twitter followers on Tuesday.

“Now that we’ve seen this hashtag become a game-changer as the political hashtag of the season, I think a lot of candidates are trying to come up with their own catchy hashtag to grab some of the Internet’s audience,” Wong said.

 

Cruz and Kasich court bacon lovers

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz filmed an online video that depicts him cooking “machine-gun bacon” using the barrel of a gun.

Not to be outdone, Ohio Gov. John Kasich poked fun at his own wavy campaign logo by turning it into a bacon-themed Snapchat filter during a visit to New Hampshire this week.

 

Clinton’s ‘love’ for Snapchat

Clinton has used social media to share her views on current issues and to hit at her rivals. She’s helped by her massive Twitter following.

A tweet bashing Jeb Bush for a remark about women’s healthcare funding got more than 6,000 retweets. About 700 accounts shared Bush’s response, in comparison.

In early July, Clinton drew attention after commenting on a viral photo of tearful gay boy posted by Humans of New York, saying his “future is going to be amazing.”

Clinton also less successfully used a social media reference to laugh off criticism over her use of a private email server and decision to delete messages she deemed personal.

“You may have seen that I recently launched a Snapchat account. I love it –– those messages disappear all by themselves,” she quipped.

 

Fiorina’s web domain rebound

Businesswoman Carly Fiorina found that social media is fraught with both risk and reward upon launching her Republican White House run in May. The former executive’s campaign lost out on registering a web domain in the candidate’s name.

CarlyFiorina.org was registered by an employee at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), who used the site to criticize her tenure at Hewlett-Packard.

Fiorina reminded critics how easy it is to register a website in another’s name though, grabbing websites in NBC anchor Chuck Todd and late show host Seth Myers’s names.

Fiorina took to Twitter to troll the “Meet the Press” host.

Thanks, @chucktodd, for having me on @meetthepress this morning. Btw, check out http://t.co/m9C6LxE89J. #domaingate

— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) May 10, 2015