It all started late Sunday afternoon, when CNN Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry tweeted a link to a blog post he wrote that said the White House believes Democratic Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley will lose Tuesday’s special Senate election to Republican Scott Brown.

Henry thought he had a scoop, explaining what was going on in six subsequent tweets.

But then came Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton, who apparently just started tweeting from his @billburton44 account only two days ago.

“I wholeheartedly disagree: CNN: Obama advisors expect Coakley to lose: http://tinyurl.com/y928ugc,” Burton tweeted.

A number of high profile Twitter users noticed this public disagreement more commonly found in the White House Briefing Room or in private e-mail conversations between reporters and White House Press Office staff.

“Looks like the White House deputy press sec @billburton44 is getting active on Twitter. Very cool,” tweeted Brian Stelter of The New York Times.

“@MediaLizzy PrezObama believes Coakley wins (per @BillBurton44); senior WH whispers don’t (per CNN). @edhenrycnn @KevinMaddenDC,” tweeted Tony Fratto, a former White House official in the second Bush administration.

Will we see Burton or others who work at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue instantly rebut more scoops from White House correspondents? In this case, it certainly worked effectively and changed the conversation from whether Coakley will win or lose to the uniqueness of Burton’s tweeting.

But in the future, it might not work as well. Many on Twitter might just dismiss tweets like that as White House spin — much like a written statement or an official doing the morning talk shows.

Either way, there’s no disputing that what happened on Sunday afternoon was pretty cool and probably unprecedented in Twitter’s relatively young history.

Follow Ethan Klapper on Twitter: @ethanklapper.