(Cross-posted on the NRSC Blog.)

The online world of politics is moving at warp speed and we are proud of our ability to keep up with the pace of innovation and, in some cases, even stay ahead of the curve. In that vein, today I would like to alert you to the redesign of the National Republican Senatorial Committee's Web site and the launch of our Two Seats Program.

Our new site will be more user friendly and video driven, allowing our candidates' messages of smaller government, fiscal responsibility and lower taxes to come through more clearly. The new homepage will also provide visitors with easier navigation to our blog, press releases and the micro-sites that are dedicated to individual Senate races.

I am also excited to alert you to our innovative new Two Seats Program. Here, visitors will be able to donate online to a candidate, or slate of candidates, of their choice. This section of our new site will provide potential donors with information on candidates who share their views on government and allow site visitors to target their donations to those specific candidates.

There is so much at stake in November and it is important that people have a clear understanding of the stakes. On the left, Democrats offer Americans bigger government, higher taxes and a weaker national defense. On the right, Republicans offer Americans smaller government, lower taxes and a strong national defense. The choice is clear, and it is imperative the citizens of this country have the ability to support the candidates who share their views and values. We, as Republicans, will continue to work hard to fight for the American people and are proud to bring them an enhanced ability to support our shared cause.

Please come and check out the new site, www.nrsc.org, and our Two Seats Program located at twoseats.nrsc.org.

Two seats are all it takes to capture the majority and with your help we will achieve that goal.

I just got off a brief conference call with NRSC Chairman Senator John Ensign, who updated us the state of some competitive Senate races and what the NRSC's been up to of late. Of particular interest was Senator Ensign's announcement that the NRSC is launching a fundraising utility on their site, called "Two Seats".

Will allow users to donate directly to Senate candidates on our site, and they can learn more about the candidates.

Will allow users to create their own slate of candidates.

John Randall, the NRSC's online guru, promised more info on "Two Seats" - so stay tuned.

On the NRSC

We knew it'd be a tough year: because of losing the majority. A lot of donors didn't think we stood by our principals.

The NRSC raised $4 million less then 2 years ago, but we have $1.5 million more in the bank.

We've approached this committee less like a committee and more like a business.

Senator Ensign talked up Jim Ogonowski, who lost a special election for Congress back in the fall, but is now running against John Kerry in Massachusetts.

If Ogonowski is able to get resources, we think he could be a serious candidate.

On the Presidential Race

The best candidate for us is Hillary Clinton.

Michael Illions asked why Sen. Ensign & Sen. McConnell had personally donate $1000 each to Anne Evans Estabrook (running for Senate in New Jersey) who is pro-choice, when the Senator has acknowledged that the GOP has lost it's way and needs to get back to its Conservative values?

It's important to have a GOP majority in Congress, because that means we get Conservative judges approved. Estabrook is a strong candidate, and moderate Republicans have voted to confirm Conservative judges.

The call was brief, only 15 minutes, but this is the second bloggers call I've been on with Senator Ensign and it's a good sign that the NRSC is working to reach out to the blogosphere and engage us in a dialogue.

Cross-posted at the NRSC blog.

NRSC Chairman John Ensign asks the following question for the CNN/YouTube presidential debate on Wednesday, November 28: Why do you think it's important to have a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate?

Comment here or leave a video response on YouTube.

Note: Stan Olshefski is the Website Manager for the NRSC.

I was able to jump on a blogger's conference call this evening with Senator John Ensign who chairs the NRSC. Sen. Ensign gave us a run-down of the key races that the NRSC is focusing on this cycle. I've paraphrased most of the Senator's remarks - I'm a blogger after all.

He prefaced his remarks by saying that we're heading into a tough election cycle. And although it looks pretty bad on its surface, if you dig into the details we're not doing too poorly.

Four Top Republican Incumbents the Dems. are Targeting

Gordon Smith - Oregon

He matches the state very well philosophically and I'm confident he'll be reelected.

Norm Coleman - Minnesota

Neither one of his opponents are catching fire... the national Democrats are pretty nervous about Al Franken.

Senator Coleman has really strong re-elect numbers.

Susan Collins - Maine

Moveon.org has been beating up on Susan Collins for six months. After all that effort she still has a 70% approval rating.

She works tirelessly up there. She goes home every weekend and she never misses a vote.

John Sununu - New Hampshire

He will have the toughest race; it'll be neck and neck all the way to election day. There will be a huge amount of money put into the race.
Jeanne Shaheen had a very poor record as governor. She has a very poor record to run on, John has an excellent record.

Open Seats

Virginia

It'll be the hardest state of any to hold. It's an expensive state, so we have to come out with our absolute best candidate.

Nebraska

I'm very confident we'll hold that seat. We have two great candidates, and even if Bob Kerrey gets in, I think we'll hold that seat very easily.

Colorado

In the past couple of races in Colorado the Dems. had moderates running who were pro-business and pro-gun. This time they have a true liberal running while we have a true reformer. In this anti-Washington environment I think our candidate is the perfect person to win this race.

Democrat Incumbents the GOP are Targeting

Mary Landrieu - Louisiana

The fact is the demographics have changed in the state, due to the tragedy of Katrina. She's definitely our number one target.

Tim Johnson - South Dakota
We're happy and thankful for his recovery. But it's a U.S. senate race in a red state, so we're in play there.

Questions

Ed Morrissey - Can you comment on Pete Domenici retiring?

I can't speculate until we've had an official announcement.

Weekly Standard - What candidates might you expect in the Virginia race?

Is it going to be a convention or is going to be primary? It'd be great if we just had one candidate, but that's not the way it's going to be in that state.

Rob Bluey - Asked about SCHIP. How big a deal is the veto going to be, and is it going to hurt Republicans this election?

I think our position is defensible and I think it's a winning position.

We want to extend the program to cover poor children, we don't want to extend it to people who earning $72,000 in New Jersey or $82,000 in New York.

Conservatives with Attitude - What about New Jersey?

It's a state that obviously is a very blue state, but there's a couple of dynamics there.

1) Frank Lautenberg will be over 90 years of age...

2) I"m very impressed with Anne Evans Estabrook. If she can put her own money in the race and raise some more, she could put together a very impressive race.

John Hawkins - The Democrats are beating us at raising money, what are you going to do to change that?

1) I have dramatically cut expenses here at the Committee. Three times this year, I've sat down with our management to look at ways to make this place more efficient.

2) There's been a shift in the last few weeks, especially in New York and Chicago, and it's because the Dems. true colors are starting to come out. We are starting to see it tip a little bit.

One of the things that I think will help is once we have a defined nominee for both sides.

Overall, I was impressed with Senator Ensign's insights on the various Senate races, and I hope his slight-optimism about Republican fundraising is well placed.

ED. NOTE: TechRepublican is pleased to welcome U.S. Senator John Ensign to the discussion. He is the first U.S. Senator to jump in.

[Cross posted at the NRSC Blog.]

Welcome to our new NRSC blog. We've been working on this for the past couple of months, and now we're ready for our full launch.

Our blog is the latest in an aggressive outreach program we've embarked on this cycle. We're hoping to engage voters like you in the process this year and build for the future.

Not only will our blog serve as an information hub for the latest updates on Senate races across the country from the MSM and blogosphere, but it will also contain new information on incumbent and challenger candidates.

On a side note, so far, our online program has launched a few micro sites -- DontMarkWarner.com; CostofDemocrats.com; TheShaheenRecord.com and FranklyFranken.com -- please take a few moments to look around those as well. More will be coming in the next weeks and months, so keep an eye out.

We'll be updating the blog daily, so please visit often. Let us know what you think and thanks for your support.