[Ed. note: New year, new TechRepublican design. Let us know what you think in the comments.]

In December I had a chance to interview Hugh Hewitt (@HughHewitt) before he interviewed David Almacy (@Almacy) and I on his radio show about Twitter and what the GOP needs to do to catch up to the Dems online. (You can listen to the podcast from that conversation here.)

In the interview I had with Hugh, we talked about his use of Twitter, why more talk radio show hosts should embrace Twitter, and what the GOP needs to do to catch up online.

Here's the interview (taped with my Flip Mino btw):

Hugh Hewitt has a contest running over at Townhall, and the prize is $500 for the winner. Hugh wants to see some amateur campaign ads made on the best Christmas theme.

And what sort of ads should the candidates be running in the week before Christmas? That's my new contest: Submit your amateur ad (for any candidate, D or R) that employs the Christmas theme best. First Prize: $500. Send me the link for your work along with your contact info. Negative ads accepted, though of course only the 527s will run ads showing Hillary in a sleigh loaded with a huge pile of coal etc.

It doesn't matter which candidate or which party, but of course I'd like to see some great conservative commercials. So if you have Final Cut, or iMovie, get to work. If you don't have those softwares, you can use the Flektor software for free to make your ad.

My advice? Pick some Christmas music and be optimistic. The goal is to create an ad a candidate would actually run. Here is an example of what you can do with Flektor. Now get to work and win that cash money!