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GOP Campaign Arm Embraces New Media

I consistently criticized the National Republican Congressional Committee last year for its backward online efforts and ignorance of the power of the blog, but it looks like the NRCC is finally coming around.

The campaign arm of House Republicans unveiled a redesigned Web site today, and it includes not only a blog but also a video center and a link to the NRCC's page on YouTube. The site further incorporates online social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

From the opening blog entry by NRCC Chairman Tom Cole of Oklahoma (actually dated May 23), it sounds like Cole has learned the lesson that his predecessor, Thomas Reynolds of New York, never did.

"When we initially rolled out the Web site www.TheRealDemocratStory.com in March, we asked people to sign up to blog, and the response was so overwhelming that we created a platform for your voices to be heard," Cole wrote. "This new blog is just the beginning of our commitment to cutting-edge technology to defeat Democrats in 2008 and regain our Republican majority."

The NRCC also apparently realizes that just having a blog isn't sufficient. It has hired Josh Shultz as the new media director, and part of his job is to "oversee a team dedicated to engaging the blogosphere and holding Democrats accountable through the NRCC’s various platforms."

Thus far, Cole is the only lawmaker who appears to have blogged at the site -- and only on that first day -- so there is still room for new media growth at the NRCC. But at least the committee has moved past the Carl Forti era of "we know more than [unreliable blogs] do."

Posted by Danny | 10:54 AM

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