. >> and nobody follows it more closely than bob lichter, so bob, if you want to weigh in, please. >> general twitter users trend older than some of the other social media like faceb

. >> let me turn to bob lichter at george mason university. any final thoughts or questions, bob? >> pat, you have been in politics as a commentator, communicator, candidate, just about everything, and i wondered if you have any single principle you would give to somebody running for high office that could structure the way you try to communicate with the electorate. >> i don't know if you can. i don't know if you can. we're all different. and as we talked about president obama and president nixon and ronald reagan, how different reagan and nixon were in terms of communication. and what their strengths were. nixon loved the press conferences, and we would be out there, and they would be -- >> he was a lawyer. that was his training. >> also he's in the arena and the dogs start yelling. people loved it. they were like, let's get a beer and watch him go up against these folks. when he was on, he was outstanding. after each one of them, he would go up five points. and of course he would have his major speeches. but reagan, you know, reagan's sport was the anecdote, story and come on w

. >> bob lichter, let me turn to you with some concluding thoughts. >> well, the last reelection, going back to 2000, what you've seen is one side and then the other side organizing a little better for various reasons. but you've got a serious split in american politics. it's about an even division, which is why it's hard for any president to get anything done. whenever one president is in office, the other side gets moran mamor more animated to get him back in office. to me it's interesting that with all the animation of conservative voices within the republican party, the tea party and others alike are willing to say we don't think mitt romney is one of our guys, but we really want to beat barack obama. that's traditional politics. that's what it's all about. we're not seeing a third party, we're not seeing a ross perot this year. it's fascinating to see how a new public force in republican politics is going to play out where they're not going to have as much to say. >> where do you want students in particular who have either read the book or seen excerpts to take away from your resea

bob lichter. >> i have a student question. pat, you worked in a very high level of communications adviser to two different presidents, and then you ran for president yourself. and in conjunction with the question my student is about to ask, i question whether your running for president made you think differently about how to communicate with the elector according to your experiences. but i also would like to you answer chris' question. >> my question is obviously president nixon was a great debater and president reagan obviously labeled the great communicator. i was wondering what can be learned from both of those presidents for president obama or anyone else moving forward. >> well, i think president obama is an effective communicator, and i think one of the things that president obama has going for him, which reagan had going for him, is he's a very likeable man. he has a wonderful sense of humor, he seems to take critici criticism, it rolls off him, and he responds really well. again, i think president obama delivered a mas