Matt Lira, Eric Cantor’s new media guru, is travelling Virginia, training party leadership online. His goal: To help congressional staff & party leadership close the internet gap between conservatives & liberals in the state. I ventured to a training he hosted in Richmond last evening and am encouraged that our side is starting to speak to leaders in a very practical way about how to communicate in the modern world.

Here were just a few snippets:

- When writing a blog post ask: What do I read online?

- For only $99 a campaign can purchase an RCA Small Wonder handheld camera and create high quality video for YouTube that doesn’t strain a budget.

- One of the fastest growing demographics among SocNet users are now young people & moms. Coincidentally, both groups are among the hardest to reach on the campaign trail.

- Tele-Townhall meeting are a fun, innovative way to connect constituents with the legislative process. Using a web-based control screen, congressional staff can engage 1,000’s of constituents in a two-way conversation and get invaluable feedback on a tough vote or hot-button issue of the day.

These are just a few things that sparked my interest. Matt Lira has a great way of talking about the intersection of politics and the internet in a way that doesn’t make these newcomers’ heads spin. He offered step-by-step practical advice. As a movement, I think we need to be doing more training sessions like this. We need to break out of Washington and practice what we preach. Train the folks on the ground who are out there fighting every day. Kudos to Matt Lira and to everyone else who’s advancing this cause. I look forward to keeping this up in the future.

U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) continues to break new ground in the world of tech + politics.

His latest offering is termed a "Web Presentation" on a bill Cantor authored, the Middle Class Jobs Protection Act. The presentation is essentially a documentary on the bill -- a more modern press release if you will.

Check it out here.

Another dollop of porridge to Congressman Cantor and his eGuru Matt Lira.

A few highlights:
* The video is really, really good. Some might even call it "artsy." A particularly good use of lighting on the interviewed subjects.
* I actually read the bullet points on what the bill would do. It's refreshing to see just the right amount of text. When it comes to policy, less is more (sometimes).
* The diamond of the operation which shows a smart use of the product is the email capture where you can sign-up "To Support This Legislation as a Citizen Co-Sponsor." This should add more contacts to Cantor's growing email list of citizens actually interested in what he has to say.

FINAL THOUGHT: Matt and I go back and forth about his use of a custom flash player (rather than using YouTube), but I think it works well in this instance. He needs the entire real estate to effectively distribute the message and I think this product does just that. Keep up the good work.

Especially if you're a Republican.

Don't believe me? Check out the good work of the Democratic Congress from Eric Cantor's perspective:

Eric Cantor's modern media guru Matt Lira is destined to have a stocking full of porridge under the TechRepublican Christmas tree if he keeps this up.

My only suggestion for Cantor is why end the video without a call to action? Why not send folks back to your website where they can send a delightful holiday message to Nancy Pelosi? We know you have the skills and the creativity.

And let's be honest, that's one holiday message we'd all love to send (and might get you some pub).

The NRCC’s latest Rediscover video focuses on the importance of protecting conservative free speech and features Rep. Mike Pence.

It’s well worth the watch.

Additionally, the video encourages activists to sign the petition launched by Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA), at www.StandWithRush.com and stand with Rush Limbaugh who is the latest target of Democrats’ attempts to distract from their growing list of failures.

The petition, previously posted on here, already has over 13,000 signatures.

Let’s make sure it continues to grow.

www.standwithrush.com

Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia just launched an online petition urging conservatives to "Stand With Rush (Limbaugh)" against liberal attacks.

The text of the petition reads:

One failure after another, Washington Democrats have built a record of legislative failure; one disappointment after another, Washington Democrats have failed to deliver results to the people who got them there.

This must be why, just nine months into their tenure, the Democrat-led Congress hit an 11% approval rating – that is the lowest in recorded history. Facing their record of failure, Washington Democrats decided to try and distract – and so they took a man’s words out of context, then they went on the attack.

It is at moments like these when we need to band together as conservatives and fight back. That is exactly what the Red State community and so many other conservatives around the country have been doing.

This issue is bigger than you or me, it is bigger than Rush Limbaugh. With the recent liberal effort to resurrect the "fairness doctrine," we have to recognize that free speech -- conservative free speech is under direct attack. These are issues that speak directly to the core of the modern conservative movement – are we going to allow ourselves to be pushed around by liberal extremists, or are we going to fight back?

I want to send Washington Democrats a message that their attempts to distract aren’t working – I stand with Rush Limbaugh against liberal attacks.

Rep. Eric Cantor
EricCantor.com

If Cantor's thinking about running for that VA-SEN seat, he's going to have a nice head start on building an email list of supporters.

I'm literally beside myself.

Virginia Republican Congressman Eric Cantor, a member of the House Leadership and a rock solid conservative, has just broken exciting new ground with this "choose your own adventure" video.

In an email shipped out from the Cantor communications office, they said the following:

To coincide with today's Ways and Means hearing on carried interest, we launched a new web feature at cantor.house.gov to help bring attention to the debate.

It's an interactive film, which allows you to join in on an adventure to discover who is responsible for threatening our economy and hopefully learn more about the important debate over carried interest that is happening to day on the Hill.

http://cantor.house.gov/adventure/

To our knowledge, this is the first time anything like this has been done in politics; so, we're excited to hear your feedback on the project.

Brad Dayspring, Republican Study Committee communications director, followed up with a solid blog post explaining the issue and noting Cantor's smart use of online, interactive video.

As one of the co-authors of the Open House Project, a citizen-drafted report on how Congress can make a smarter, better use of technology to better communicate with their constituents, I'm pleased to see Congressman Cantor (and his team) taking risks and being creative.

And the best part is that this video is just the beginning. We look forward to seeing more.

READ MORE ABOUT ERIC CANTOR'S ONLINE ACTIVITIES:

* Eric Cantor gets it
* The "Solutions Factory" opens
* Cantor's cruising the technology wave to positive press
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We need more Members of Congress like Eric Cantor and more talented, tech-savvy staffers like his spokesblogger, Matt Lira.

I was checking out my incoming tweets and I got the following ping from @EricCantor: "Peter Hardin at the Richmond Times-Dispatch published an interesting article on our online efforts."

I read the article Cantor was sending around to his tweets. It's a great story about Cantor's use of the Internet and gives proper credit to the staffer behind the effort, Matt Lira. Nice work Team Cantor.

This is how Members of Congress can and should be effectively communicating... even in the minority.

Hey Congressman --- PLEASE tell the rest of your caucus.