Republicans top Democrats with Facebook fans

Republicans will have to wait until Tuesday to find out if they make the big gains many expect in the US Congress but they have already beaten the Democrats in another arena -- Facebook.

Republican candidates are outpolling Democrats on Facebook in the races for the Senate, House of Representatives and state governor, according to the blog AllFacebook.com, which has compiled figures from across the country.

Overall, the Facebook pages of Republican candidates have attracted 3.38 million fans while Democratic candidates have drawn 1.39 million, according to AllFacebook.com, which is independent of the social network.

In the Senate races, 26 Republican candidates have more fans than their Democratic opponents. Just 10 Democratic Senate hopefuls have more fans than their Republican rivals.

In 190 competitive House races, 127 Republican candidates have more Facebook fans than their Democratic opponents. Only 63 Democratic candidates are up on their Republican rivals ahead of Tuesday's election.

In the gubernatorial races, 23 Republican candidates for governor are ahead of their Democratic foes on Facebook while only 13 Democrats have been "liked" more than their Republican rivals.

The candidate with the largest number of Facebook fans is Senator John McCain, the Republican from Arizona who lost the presidential race to Barack Obama two years ago. McCain has around 714,650 Facebook friends.

Republican candidates for the Senate, House or governor occupy eight of the top 10 slots when it comes to Facebook fans.

Bill White, a Democrat running for governor of Texas, has the most fans of any Democrat with 151,014. California gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown with 95,350 fans is the only other Democrat to crack the top 10.

Another Democrat, of course, tops all of the candidates combined in Facebook popularity -- Barack Obama himself, whose Facebook page has 15.28 million fans.

(c) 2010 AFP