Twitter: Obama sent most popular tweet of GOP convention

Bad news for Republicans: President Obama sent the most popular tweet related to the Republican National Convention.

The tweet, sent late Thursday, was apparently a response to actor Clint Eastwood. Eastwood delivered a speech that night to the GOP convention in which he addressed an empty chair onstage as "Mr. Obama," chiding him for failing to live up to his campaign promises as president.

"This seat's taken," the tweet from Obama's account reads. It includes a picture of the back of Obama's head in a chair marked "The President."

This seat's taken. OFA.BO/c2gbfi, twitter.com/BarackObama/st…

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 31, 2012

According to Twitter, the tweet was Obama's second-most re-tweeted ever, following last May's tweet endorsing same-sex marriage, his most popular tweet of all time, with 61,524 re-tweets.

Last week's chair tweet earned 51,189 re-tweets, more than any other tweet related to the GOP convention, according to Twitter's analysis. The microblogging service monitored tweets at and about the convention all week using a dedicated event page that followed the action in real time.

Eastwood's unusual speech, which Mitt Romney's campaign has said was ad-libbed, has become a defining moment from the convention. That might not be a good thing for Romney, who officially accepted the GOP presidential nomination that same evening. 

According to CBS News, his campaign said Romney found the speech "funny."

Obama later said he was not offended by Eastwood's routine, and he is a "huge" fan of the actor.

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