This is a bold new idea: Florida Sen. Dan Gelber, candidate for the U.S. Senate seat of the retiring Mel Martinez, will tweet the entire Florida legislative session, in keeping with his commitment to open, transparent government.

I have decided to embrace the new online communication tools and put them to use during the 60-day legislative session. I will be providing live coverage of the upcoming legislative session by micro-blogging about it using the social networking site Twitter. By utilizing one of the most recent tools in new media communication, more Floridians will be able to follow closely the state's legislative session and the major policy issues discussed in Tallahassee.

Most of you know that transparency and an open government process is very important for me. I am excited to use one of the newest tools in online communication because it will allow more Floridians to follow closely the major policy discussions in Tallahassee and offer their opinion on how their leaders should respond. Florida's facing great challenges right now, and the session will attempt to address many of them in just 60 short days. We need the public participating in this conversation.

I will also encourage my colleagues in the Florida Legislature to join with me in making this the most open legislative session by creating their own twitter accounts. An open and transparent dialogue is the only way for a democracy to address its great issues.

We've seen the potentially disastrous consequences of giving Republicans the power of Twitter (hello, Pete Hoekstra and Jeff Frederick!) Hopefully this will go better.

By all accounts, Gelber is an exceptionally sharp guy and a highly quotable one, so he may yet succeed where so many elephants have fallen.

Gelber is opposed in the primary by Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek. He has no announced Republican opponent as of this moment.

On the web:
Dan Gelber for Senate
Kendrick Meek for Senate