5/15/09 Update: What you see here is a placeholder between what was and what is to come for GOP.com. Don't get too used to this page--the complete rebuild is around the corner. Soon we'll have a new look and a more enjoyable, modern, open and participatory way to share our ideals with the Country.

On Friday of last week, we chose a vendor to rebuild our website and digital presence; the two are not the same and the distinction matters---a lot. It matters especially so for us.

The website you see today is difficult to update, hard to use, and locked in a Web 1.0 environment. It is also stale. It is in need of a massive spring clean. To be fair, my predecessor and good friend, Cyrus Krohn, and his team were on the way to changing all of this. Then, we elected a new Chairman, re-grouped, re-staffed and then, finally, we locked & loaded.

The project is underway.

You will soon witness some preliminary changes and, less soon—though, faster than I have ever seen done—you will see the new GOP.com in its entirety. This is where you come in.

Pew recently released a study about politics and technology. I quote (the emphasis is mine): “Despite the Dem’s recent success in using the internet, Republicans as a whole (68%) are actually more likely to be online political users then Dem’s (53%). 84% of Republicans go online and of that group 79% are online political users. Only 40% of Republicans engage in online activism. (Online activism is defined by three components; 1) going online for political news and information 2) communicating with others about politics online and 3) using social media tools (FBOOK, Twitter, Email) to interact with other voters/campaigns.)”

As you can see, this is where you come in---we hope.

For many of you, Facebook and Twitter are like Tide and Big Macs, BrightKite is old-hat and you have already beta-tested Vine and Footprint. Cool. Will you help the rest of us?

For some of you, this will be a new and exciting way to exercise your political muscles. Perhaps our friends in the know will lend us a hand.

I mentioned the important distinction between a website and a digital-presence. You are our digital presence and it is our job to make your insurmountably important role in our Party fun, easy, compelling, two-way and meaningful. The website can be a meeting place, an information gathering place, the action center where you can prepare yourself to help people discover that hope & change really means poverty & pain. Or, it can be a website. We are determined to provide the tools necessary to make it the former. If you have thoughts on what that should include, please tell us.

Thank you for being our digital presence ... especially through the past few months.

WASHINGTON – The Republican National Committee (RNC) today launched a new ad: “One of Us.”  The ad highlights the motivation and experience of New York State Republican Leader Jim Tedisco, a candidate for the open Congressional seat in New York’s 20th district.

The ad will run on the major networks in the Albany, NY area.

:30 TV Advertisement

Title: “One of Us”

The son of a foundry worker and loving mom, Jim Tedisco’s life changed forever when he lost his young brother with Down Syndrome.

So, Jim dedicated his life to serving others.

Special Ed teacher, guidance counselor, coach. 

Then to public service to help our families.

Fighting for property tax relief, securing jobs, protecting our children. 

Jim Tedisco for Congress.  He fights for us because he’s one of us.

-Disclaimer-

I’m Jim Tedisco, and I approve this message. 

Right.org, a new grassroots website calling on Congress to do what's right and stop bailouts, has announced a video contest asking Americans to speak out against the bailouts. The winning submission will be awarded $27,599—one person's bailout burden as determined by the Right.org Bailout Calculator.

The contest also offers a second-place prize of $2,759, and five runner-up prizes of $275 gift certificates to the Apple Store. Videos may be submitted between February 23 and May 25. Winners will be announced in June. Contest rules and submission guidelines are available at Right.org.

President Barack Obama said it best in a speech on February 4: "[W]hat gets people upset – and rightfully so – are executives being rewarded for failure. Especially when those rewards are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers." Right.org gives voice to Americans who don't want to pay for corporate failures that aren't their fault. The federal government has put taxpayers on the line for nearly $8.5 trillion in debt obligations—more than $100,000 per family.

"Economists and Treasury Secretaries have deceived the American public—so we're taking the facts straight to the taxpayer," says Right.org founder Evan Baehr. "The passage of the new 'stimulus' package makes it clear that Washington isn't listening, so Right.org is asking Americans to turn up the volume."

The Bush and Obama Administrations and Congressional leaders often use complex economic terms to describe components of the bailout—like “term auction facility” and “money market investor funding facility.” “Regardless of what you call these components, they add up to 8.5 trillion dollars,” Baehr remarked. “That's nearly three times the size of Congress' total budget last year and nearly two-thirds of what the entire U.S. economy produced last year!”

Thousands of Americans stood up to the egregious economic stimulus package signed into law yesterday.  Even if the bill contains up to $300 billion in bailouts, as some estimate, these commitments are dwarfed by the FDIC and Federal Reserve authority to spend an additional $5 trillion of taxpayer money.  Our fight has only just begun. 

Teach Your Children Well!

Here are a few resources for you to share with children of all ages on Presidents Day.

Wikipedia list of the GOP presidential tickets.

Apples 4 the teacher activities.

Yesterday we alerted the RNC's Tech Summit that is taking place this Friday

Today we are announcing a community forum for you to share thoughts in advance of Friday and beyond.

If you can attend in person, great. If not, then join the action from the comfort of your home or wherever you are.

The Republican National Committee is hosting a Tech Summit on Friday, Feb. 13 (yes, we know) at our National Headquarters. This is an open invitation to participate. Please use the sign-up form here and identify your area of expertise.

We look forward to a full day of your ideas. Speakers will be given 5 minutes to present suggestions and opportunities for advancing the GOP's technology efforts.

Registration is open until Wed., Feb. 11 at 11 p.m. ET.

Time blocks for each area of interest will be communicated via e-mail no later than Thurs., Feb. 12 at Noon ET.

If you can get here, we'll hear you!

310 First Street SE
Washington, DC 20003 (Map)

If you can't attend in person please send thoughts via e-mail to ecampaign@gop.com and put "Tech Summit" in the subject line or call 202-863-8728.

We've also started a discussion group on our Facebook page. Look for "GOP Tech Summit".

We'll be launching other initiatives in the coming days for you to share your thoughts.

We want to hear your thoughts on RNC Chairman Michael Steele's "Blueprint for Tomorrow".

To share your comments click on the "comment" link below or you can share thoughts in the following locations:

The Official RNC Facebook Group

Send RNC a message on Twitter

Thanks!