I was able to make it to this week’s conservative bloggers briefing, after a one week hiatus. This time the briefing was hosted by the Coalition for a Conservative Majority at their offices in Eastern Market and Congressman Jeff Flake (R-AZ) joined us to talk about his top issue – earmark reform.

The Congressman was 20 minutes late, but when he did arrive, he began by thanking everyone who’d pushed hard for him to win the open seat on the Appropriations Committee.

He said he might be planning to make another go of it, as six seats will be open on the committee next January.

I asked the Congressman what he thought of the NRCC’s recent fundraising woes and to share with us his realistic appraisal of House GOP prospects this November.

Whether we have a message that sells, remains to be seen.

For the past several years we (house Republicans) have run without a message, instead relying on things like re-districting and passing out pork and then counting on the NRCC to protect incumbents by doling on money.

He went on to note that this system is busted, but we "still haven’t thrown out that playbook."
Rob Bluey followed up by asking whether or not Flake agreed with NRCC chairman Tom Cole’s recent statement that:

Earmarks are not the reason we lost in 2006.

Flake emphatically disagreed, noting that we lost several appropriators in 2006 – putting to bed the idea that pork spending is a useful form of incumbency protection.

He also referenced Senator McCain as being right on this issue, "It wasn’t the war in Iraq (that lost the GOP the 2006 election) it was spending and corruption."

He said that earmark reform is a signal to voters that Republicans are fiscally responsible.

If you’re unwilling to agree to a one year earmark moratorium, then how in the world can you stop entitlement spending?

Amen to that Congressman.

No doubt, Rep. Flake is one member of Congress that anyone interested in a fiscally responsible government will want to see on the House Appropriations Committee – let’s hope he decides to run again come January.

Also check out Human Event’s Ericka Andersen who has more on Flake’s comments.

Rep. Jeff Flake wasn't appointed to the Appropriations Committee, but Freedomworks came out on top in the organization's bid to appoint him.

Brendan Steinhauser and Rob Jordan spoke this morning during a candidate training session about how Freedomworks was able to maximize results and identify support using online petitions during the campaign. Brendan's Bottom Line: Online petitions, when combined with offline activism, have the potential to identify supporters, motivate leaders and spread a conservative message virally.

For any campaign one of two outcomes is ideal: Win your campaign or build your membership.

To me, building organizational membership early is crucial for grassroots activists who wish to run for office in the future. Petition signers, in the long run, become a candidate's voters, donors and most treasured volunteers.

Kudos to Brendan and Rob for innovative thinking and an excellent presentation this morning. Up next is Patrick Ruffini's take on how candidates can use all aspects of new media to advance a cause or message.

I look forward to continuing this discussion at the Leadership Institute's Internet Activist Schools in March. Training of this magnitude is helping conservatives learn how to get ahead online and the movement is in debt to the speakers who volunteer their time to make this training possible.