Council Chairman campaigns on Facebook, parodied on Twitter

Social media has leveled the playing field in many ways. On the political front, it's a way for candidates and elected officials to make a direct connection with their constituency. For their supporters and detractors, it's a way to voice their opinion and disrupt the opposition.

Horry County Council Chairman and Congressional candidate Tom Rice is dealing with a little bit of both at the moment. 

Being the hyperlocal social media hounds we are at TheDigitel, we have been watching the paraody account called "Trillion Dollar Tom" for a couple weeks. To be honest, while there are some funny tweets it just didn't seem worthy of a story. However, The Sun News feels differently.

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The "Trillion Dollar" part of the parody name comes from a quote when Rice was a prominent spokesperson for the Take Back May effort that started in 2008. Rice was quoted at a public meeting during that time saying that even if the bike rallies brought in "a trillion dollars during those 10 days" the dispruption they caused wouldn't be worth it. 

Even though Rice claims he knows nothing about the parody account, that doesn't mean he hasn't been active on social media himself. FITSNews shared a video Rice posted to his Facebook page of a cat responding to a list of SC 7th Congressional Candidates.  

Early polls show Rice is one of the front runners in the race for the new South Carolina 7th Congressional District seat.

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