Correction: An earlier version of this post included some national political journalists in the poll. Votes for local journalists before the poll was changed will be counted.

Update: The winner of this poll was Freeman Klopott, @FKlopott.

These Washington-area journalists have been nominated as the best at using Twitter in their coverage of politics.

To vote on the best #DCjournotweeps covering local news, see the separate ballot on that question. You can vote in the local politics category at the end of this post. A few journalists covering national politics were nominated, but we have limited this to local politics. Time has recognized national political journalists in its list of 140 best Twitter feeds. And Politico's Mike Allen (one of those nominated for #DCjournotweeps) started a nationally focused #DCleaders that is not limited to journalists.

Watch for opportunities to vote later in the week on area journalists who use Twitter well in coverage of sports and entertainment. You can still nominate journalists for consideration in those categories by tweeting with the #dcjournotweeps hashtag or by email or comments here.. We're also interested in your nominees for the best non-journalist source on Twitter for local news. And call out any notable Washington journalists who are AWOL on Twitter or who gave up after a lame start. 

If you want to get right down to the voting, scroll to the ballot at the bottom of this post. But first, here are the contenders, with stats (as of this morning), scouting report and a recent tweet:

@AlanSuderman, Loose Lips columnist for Washington City Paper. 1,677 tweets. 1,100 followers. Following 247. Klout score 54. Liveblogging and conversation with an edge.

 @FKlopott, Freeman Klopott, City Hall reporter for the Washington Examiner. 3,883 tweets. 743 followers. Following 396. Klout score 53. Steady live-tweeting stream during city political events.

@jasoncherkis, contributing writer for Washington City Paper. 6,116 tweets. 1,687 followers. Following 341. Klout score 57. Active stream of commentary, replies, news, retweets.

@journalistabex, Becky Schatz, NewsChannel 8 producer. 3,081 tweets, 655 followers, following 1,037. Klout score 38. Nomination tweet by @CourtneyMarieC: "smarts, sass, and a whole lotta schatzy."

@mikedebonis. Mike DeBonis, local politics reporter for the Washington Post. 8,783 tweets. 3,222 followers. Following 594. Klout score 59. Live tweets press conferences and other events on city politics beat. Links to competitors' stories. Conversational.

@pgd9politico, blogger Jennifer Harris. 469 tweets. 77 followers. Following 32. Klout score 32. Lots of links and retweets. Nominating email cited "new, thoughtful commentary."

@SegravesWTOP, Mark Segraves, investigative reporter for WTOP. 867 tweets. 1,486 followers. Following 1. Klout score 48. Live-tweeting local political events.

@timcraigpost, Tim Craig, D.C. city hall reporter for the Washington Post. 687 tweets. 786 followers. Following 243. Klout score 53. Live-tweeting of city political events. Argued in tweets with local bloggers this week.

@tomsherwood, multimedia (NBC4, WAMU-FM, Current newspapers) journalist Tom Sherwood. 375 tweets. 1,073 followers. Following 24. Klout score 55. Choppy pace but still conversational. Mix of news, conversation, dry humor.

 Vote now for your choice for best #dcjournotweeps covering local politics: