There is no question that politicians need to have an internet presence. Facebook is a rapidly expanding online social networking site popular with candidates and elected officials. In late December this blog covered the Facebook presence of the two candidates for Arizona Republican Party Chairman, Randy Pullen and Lisa James. Since then there have been a few changes and here are the highlights.

Randy Pullen had only 16 friends in late December but is now up to a respectable 116 friends on his personal Facebook page. Pullen seems to have dropped the supporter page in favor of a Fan page. He has 35 members listed as fans.

Lisa James had 156 friends on her personal page and is now up to 240. Lisa has also added a supporter page and 31 people have signed up there.

Again, it would be difficult to make predictions on who will win based on Facebook numbers. It is interesting to see the increased use of new technologies and it is a good sign that both candidates have some understanding of how to use technology.

One inside source did state that the contest for chairman would not be close and that Pullen would handily win reelection. We will know soon because the convention will take place on January 24th. Gila Courier will try and send a representative to live blog the event so stay tuned.