Romney\'s Running Mate? Some Say Wikipedia Holds the Answer

By NOAM COHEN

Who could be Mitt Romney's choice for vice-presidential nominee?

A few techies thought they had an answer.

In 2008, Sarah Palin's Wikipedia page went through a sudden increase in editing just before she was picked as John McCain's running mate. So, the thinking goes, monitor the edits on the Wikipedia pages of the 2012 vice-presidential hopefuls and - voilà - we will discover Mr. Romney's choice.

It's like saying, since a taller candidate usually wins, you should nominate Shaquille O'Neal, and he'll be elected president.

The idea came from a post to the political site TechPresident, which offered a few statistics and concluded, “if Wikipedia changes offer any hint of what's coming, then today might be a good day to bet” on Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin.

The idea proved too tempting to the comedian Stephen Colbert, who in the past has invited his audience to m ake up information to post on Wikipedia. On the show on Wednesday, Mr. Colbert referred to the Palin experience and said: “Let your voice be heard in this historic decision. Go on Wikipedia, and make as many edits as possible to your favorite V.P. contender.” He then pantomimed editing the article of Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota.

In response to the Colbert prank, Wikipedia briefly put the Pawlenty page on full protection, which means only a Wikipedia administrator can make changes. That was quickly downgraded to “semi-protection,” which limits editing to registered users who have a bit of Wikipedia editing experience. The article for Senator Rob Portman of Ohio was still semi-protected on Thursday afternoon, but other possible nominees like Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Mr. Ryan were open to any editors (even anonymous ones).

So many editors are watching that vandalism lasts barely seconds.

Instead, the candidate pages have lo ng been fertile ground for arguments over the fair way to summarize their lives and careers; each entry has a Talk page where factual changes are often debated before being made.

For Mr. Rubio, one argument has been over whether to call him the “crown prince” of the Tea Party movement. The latest version now adds: “The term has been used to both praise and ridicule Rubio.”

For Mr. Pawlenty, an issue is his budgeting practices when governor of Minnesota.

In Mr. Ryan's case, the debates include whether to highlight that he drove a Wienermobile while in college. (The fact was kept, but the photo of the Wienermobile was removed.)

Mr. Portman has been subject to debate over whether his work experience included lobbying.

Visit the article, and there is a note on top left by one editor: “This article appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing a ny inappropriate external links.”