Are hashtags a political #wasteoftime?

Here’s an existential question for the modern era: If politicians throw a hashtag and nobody shows up, did they make any noise?

Washington is infatuated with attempts to make various buzzwords trend on Twitter, even though the vast majority of those efforts are #epicfails. In the process, they’ve embarrassed themselves and handed opponents an easy — and often unfair — way to quantify how little the public agrees or supports whatever cause the pol is trying to promote.