Liveblogging the RebuildTheParty.com/RNC/Google event

Arrived 5:30, and they couldn't find my name on the list. Signed up a second time at the registration desk, with the aid of the two staff people. Very friendly & courteous. Hopefully I won't start getting duplicate emails from Rebuild The Party. We shall see.

5:45. Announcement that the program is about to begin. "Everyone please find your seats." No one is, they're all standing about as I sit here hammering away on the Crackberry. Introduction by Patrick Ruffini and the two other co-founders of Rebuild The Party whose names I don't catch.

5:50. Sharon Day, candidate for RNC Secretary, talks about Twitter and how quickly she got up to speed with it, and how technology helped the Dems win down in Florida. Says she's gotten more Twitter activity than four of the chairman candidates. If she wins, she says we will close the new media gap.

5:55. Several RNC members talk, as do the Rebuild The Party founders.
Guy from Google, Peter Greenberg, sitting right in front of me, comes up, talks about how he wants to invest Google on the right, not just the left. Patrick Ruffini talking about the youth vote and the internet, and not surrendering it. Why did they start RTP? Just two years ago, we were way behind, running an outdated campaign model. Fundraising through bundlers is not scalable in the internet age. Didn't work out, using the old model, whereby sending the most mail and making lots of phone calls, you raise more money. Talks about arguments within campaigns to actually zap online presence as ineffective. Video content, specifically YouTube, offers a huge opportunity. YouTube is not just kids in their basement, it's a very powerful tool.

6:15. Why did we lose, the internet? NO. We were out of touch. Failure to adapt across board. We need to get to work immediately. What did the Dems do? They built a movement first, then got the money. Shows a huge Obama rally early in the game, like summer 2007. There, they got email addresses. Those were used to ask for not just money, but time and support. Simple message of "change." Trusted supporters. Use the two-way web. Flood the zone. Amazing multimedia web and net presence. Committment matched with resources. Huge online disparity. 46.9 million raised off 1700 youtube videos. 500 million total raised online. 13 million email
addresses. 2 million website members. 27k local Obama groups. Much bigger pie than McCain in terms of fundraising. Online made the difference. Obama used that to run more TV than anyone else ever.

6:28. Old playbook is dead. Dean made the blueprint for Obama. GOP didn't learn. Internet and new media needs to bw #1 organizational priority for RNC and state parties and campaigns. Change the way we do things. New generation of candidates. Challenge every house race. Make
it about the supporters, not the candidate or the staff. Always be ready to adapt and reallocate resources. Things will change. Talks about mobile platforms and what Obama did with Google Earth.

6:40. Wrapping up presentation. Talking about smaller effort of email fundraising vs. Old school events. Rearrange priorities around new media. Lost young voters 2-1. Not good. They are reached through new media. Working on board of advisors for rebuild the party, to feature elected officials. Rob Willington is point man for that too. I immediately think of Bob Marshall and Ken Cuccinelli.

And video, food, networking. All in all, reasonably impressive. Bright, dynamic, articulate crew, who just might shake up the party establishment if we have the right people in charge, and they listen. It really is all up to us, the activists to force the old-school types to listen.

Herrity for Chair

It is absolutely, vitally important to keep Sharon Bulova, Connolly's sidekick, out of the county chair. We have a terrific candidate in Pat Herrity, who will put a stop to what Hanley and Connolly have done to the county over the past few years.

Support Pat Herrity

Mason beats Tulane, but...

doesn't look good doing it. Goff has it here and concurs. Tulane, despite their pedigree, is not very good, particularly on offense. I felt bad for that Puckett kid, the crowd at the Patriot Center was all over him. The Patriots should have blown that team out, but instead scraped by with their worst performance of the season.

If they play like that against the Dayton Flyers, mark it down, they will get HAMMERED. On the plus side, we now get some support in the AP Poll, via Kish at George Mason Basketball.

Q and O thumps the New York Times... HARD

Chris linked this at Mason Conservative, but I just can't help but pile on. Q and O hammers the NYT trying to defend Dodd, Frank and Raines, and pin it all on Republicans.

Not so fast, weasels.

Caroline Kennedy

All kidding aside, can anyone name one credential this woman has for being a United States Senator beyond her last name? Bueller... Bueller... Anyone?





That's what I thought.

Katon Dawson for RNC Chair

He's wildly successful as the South Carolina chair, and he has the ideas we need. Read this.

Other candidates include Michael Steele and Saul Anuzis, both "neoconservative" Bush types. Witness their assaults on Ron Paul during the primaries. We've had enough of that sort of thinking. Mike Duncan, unbelievably, is seeking another term after leading the party over a cliff as Jorge Bush's hand-picked guy. Now that takes cajones. Ken Blackwell is a recent entrant. I like him a lot, although he's not the most exciting or dynamic leader.

But Dawson, to me, stands head & shoulders above the rest.

Katon Dawson for RNC Chair.

Bill Bolling for Lieutenant Governor

Since it appears that the quixotic Muldoon campaign isn't going away any time soon, I'm going to once again state my support for Bill Bolling. Frankly, I wish he were going to be the gubernatorial nominee. I would have supported him over Bob McDonnell, who is still suspect in my eyes. I could understand Muldoon opposing McDonnell, but this is just nuts.

He has a snowball's chance at best, but let's not take any chances.

Hat Tip: Bearing Drift