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October 11, 2005BELTWAY BLOGROLL
Patrick Ruffini Is Now Chillin' For The RNC
Conservative blogger Patrick Ruffini is returning to his Republican National Committee roots.
The deputy director of online communications at the RNC until he became the webmaster for President Bush in the 2004 campaign, Ruffini is now the RNC's new e-campaign director. He announced the move at his blog Monday and strongly hinted that he will continue blogging at GOP.com. The RNC also issued a press release about the hiring.
The news of Ruffini's return to the RNC came just a week after he challenged "The Herd" of conservative bloggers who have been ranting against the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers. Ruffini also started the Coalition of the Chillin' to rally support in the blogosphere for Miers' confirmation.
Sounds like the kind of work he might be doing for the RNC in the future.
Katie Harbath, meanwhile, has left her job as associate director for e-communications at the RNC. She is the new deputy press secretary for the House Administration Committee.
The move means that someone else at the RNC will be feeding the bloggers. One of Harbath's outreach duties was sending the "Blog Food" e-mail newsletter, with links to RNC materials and articles that piqued the interest of the Republican campaign machine.
House Administration isn't known for leading the technology pack. Despite calls for more open government, for instance, the panel chose not to continue a test program for making Congressional Research Service reports publicly available online.
But Harbath will not be totally removed from the technology scene in her new post. The panel held a hearing last month on legislation to exempt bloggers from campaign-finance rules.
UPDATE: Hotline On Call praised the RNC's hiring of Ruffini. "The RNC has been criticized by conservative bloggers for engaging in half-hearted outreach. Ruffini knows these guys and gals and they know (and like, and respect) him, and his mere presence along gives bloggers a conduit to the RNC -- and it gives the RNC a credible conduit to bloggers."
Posted by | 04:41 PM
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