#Ruddmentum: How A Hashtag Was Hijacked For Crean And Rudd’s Hijinks


Arts Minister, former Party Leader and now Deputy Prime Minister-hopeful Simon Crean has just stepped away from a press conference where he called for Prime Minister Julia Gillard to call a leadership spill in the party to put the question of leadership to bed once and for all. The spill would be the second in the party’s current term, but away from the screeching press gallery, troubled Labor party and political posturing, two guys sit absolutely dumbfounded at what they have done.

#Ruddmentum.

It’s a simple hashtag, but it was actually created by two guys looking to troll Australian political wonks on Twitter about a month ago. The two have asked to remain anonymous because of their positions.

“It started as a joke, initially,” said one. “We found out that [Rudd supporters] were using it about four or five days later,” he added.

They continued to tweet with the #Ruddmentum hashtag for a few weeks, getting their friends involved on the inside joke. What was simple online fun for them, however, was the new slogan for Rudd supporters.

Over the last month, #Ruddmentum has been tweeted 1500 times by 800 different people.

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is no stranger to a good slogan, running on the “Kevin in ’07” or “Kevin07” message when he made his first run at Prime Minister. Bumper stickers, t-shirts and hashtags were created for people to show their love for Kevin07, and in the latest political spill, #Ruddmentum has become the new catch cry.

#Ruddmentum is now trending across Australia along with the #auspol and #rudd hashtags as we approach Parliamentary Question Time, and the two men who accidentally created the new online slogan will also be watching, quietly smirking to themselves.

Image: Scott Barbour/Stringer/Getty


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