Friday, February 20, 2009

Republican Leaders Working to Protect Floridians' Right to Secret Ballot

Watch House Majority Leader Adam Hasner and Rep. Garrett Richter discuss their efforts to protect the right of secret ballots in Florida.

"This is not an anti-union bill," said Hasner. "Harassment and intimidation are wrong, whether they come from a union boss or a management boss. With a secret ballot, you're the boss."

Dissection of Steele's Victory

Brad Todd has an insightful look into RNC Chairman Michael Steele's victory, published in PoliticsMagazine.com Highlights below.

...The core of Steele’s winning coalition were the RNC’s newer members—people like Preibus and mostly-unknown state party chairs like Jim Greer of Florida and Bob Tiernan of Oregon.
Half of Steele’s 21-person “whip team” on the committee rose to their current Party leadership roles after the disastrous election of 2006. They’re the brave ones who swam toward the sinking ship.

...As a conservative Catholic, Steele hit expected right-wing high-notes, but he also talked about school choice for urban children and long-term solutions to poverty. Steele carries three Blackberries and is prone to flurries of past-midnight emails, and he made a convincing case that he would bring the GOP’s campaign technology into the digital age.

...In short, Steele built a leadership team—and a winning campaign—with tactics, ideas, and coalitions rarely before used in the GOP. Steele promised to shake things up at party headquarters—and to the old guard’s surprise, the new RNC was in a mood to shake...

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

CQ: GOP Ramping Up Online Organizing

Congressional Quarterly reports on the GOP's efforts to "Prep the Portals of Online Organizing."

Highlights below:

Republicans already are gearing up to regain lost ground from the 2008 elections, with a plan to level the digital playing field and fight the Democrats precinct by precinct and byte by byte.

That was the overarching theme Feb. 6 at a hastily organized “Tech Summit” held by the Republican National Committee, which brought party activists and strategists together to present ideas on how the RNC can better use available technologies to engage voters.

Under new Chairman Michael Steele, the GOP has embraced new technology as part of its rehabilitation efforts in the wake of the disastrous 2008 election.

Close to 300 people took part, with hundreds more joining online. The summit featured a steady stream of speakers, each sharing their thoughts on everything from online marketing to political text messaging to social networking.

“Bottom line is, if we haven’t done it, let’s do it. If we haven’t thought of it, think about it. If it hasn’t been tried, why not?” Steele asked in a speech that verged on a sermon. The audience at the Capitol Hill Club responded with vigorous nods and occasional murmurs of “Yes!”

“The goal,” said Steele, “of bringing the party into the 21st century is all that and then some.”

Read more...