Facebook "friends" could be pivotal in presidential race

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nineteen-year-old L.J. Tsunis has some advice for his favorite U.S. presidential candidate: start hanging out on Facebook already.

"Rudy Giuliani is absolutely making a big mistake by not being active on Facebook," Tsunis told Reuters in a message posted through the popular social-networking site.

"Millions of votes could be had on here that may swing the election one way or the other."

Giuliani, a former mayor of New York City and the Republican front-runner in many opinion polls, is the only candidate for the November 2008 presidential race who has not gotten the message.

Every other major player has set up shop on the site, which draws millions of predominantly young users looking to flirt, make friends and goof off.

Candidates see social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace as tools to win over young voters who are difficult to reach through more traditional campaigning.

In this early popularity contest, Sen. Barack Obama is the clear favorite so far -- the Illinois Democrat even gained the support on Facebook, however briefly, of Giuliani's Harvard-bound daughter, Caroline.

Obama has drawn nearly twice as many online "friends" who link to his profile than any other candidate, and many of them have become volunteers for the campaign.