Gary Locke

There's a lot of chatter today about Twitter raising $100 million in financing at a whopping $1 billion valuation. In fact, the microblogging service has gotten so big that Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke -- the former governor of Washington state -- just sent his first Tweet. Coincidence? Probably.

"Really excited to start tweeting! Innovation is the growth engine of the American economy & this is a great place to talk about that," Locke writes under his Twitter handle @SecLocke.

Locke's Twitter profile comes as he also announces a new government office -- the office of entrepreneuship and innovation -- to boost new company formation in the U.S.

At this point, Locke has only updated his status once, and has just 56 followers. And I am not sure about that Twitter name -- @SecLocke -- since as we all know political jobs come and go.

Perhaps Locke can take a little advice from former King County Executive Ron Sims -- now at more than 1,800 followers -- and an early Twitter user. Current Washington state Governor Chris Gregoire also is on Twitter, with 2,099 followers. (However, she too uses a temporary handle -- GovGregoire).

Interestingly, I couldn't locate either of the Washington senators -- Maria Cantwell or Patty Murray -- on Twitter. Maybe it's time to draft a petition to get them on the Twitter bandwagon.

[Hat tip to King 5]