It’s not easy limiting a politician to answers of 140 characters or less, so we had a lot of fun today helping Senator Warner conduct his first Twitter Town Hall. 

As the co-founder of Nextel and a former venture capitalist, the Senator appreciates the role of new technology and he’s a big fan of social media. Senator Warner previously has conducted a video town hall, and he actively engages with constituents through Twitter, Facebook, and  Google+.

That’s in addition to the 1 million more traditional constituent contacts we handle every year by phone and mail. 

Over the last 24 hours, tweeps submitted their questions using the hashtag #AskWarner, and at 12:15pm, Senator Warner sat down at our Communication Director Kevin Hall's desk and answered questions about ways to create jobs and strengthen the economy.  

Here are some of the answers the Senator gave:

@FiscallySoundUS: what can American people do to help Congress make tough budget decisions?#AskWarner

@MarkWarner: @FiscallySoundUS Keep pressure on ALL of us. If we don't get this fixed you shouold fire ALL of us - myself included. #AskWarner

@kevinonell: Is legislation to bring back manufacturing jobs the right solution? #askWarner

@MarkWarner: @kevinonell US needs strongs mfrg sector. Generally support POTUS ideas but need overall tax reform that will simplify. #AskWarner

At times, the Senator couldn’t limit himself to 140 characters. 

@jmbadlam: @MarkWarner What will you do to help provide better data for investors, VCs, and financial inst. to invest in startups, small biz #AskWarner

@MarkWarner: @jmbadlam Support crowd sourcing, easier reg on-ramp for small IPOs, better tax treatment for startups and rational immig policy. #AskWarner

@MarkWarner: @jmbadlam Our #StartUpAct also inc green card for STEM grads & moves univ R&D from lab to mkt. Bipartisan, does all this & more. #AskWarner

The Senator really enjoyed his first Twitter town hall and is excited about getting more of them on the schedule in the future:

Getting pulled into a mtg. This was different but fun. Looking forward to sked more of these! Thx for the great Qs. #AskWarner

— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) February 2, 2012