Today's blogger's briefing at the NRSC featured NRSC's Political Director, Mike Slanker, and NRSC's Chairman, Senator John Ensign to focus on the electoral outlook for the 2008 senate races.

The forecast? Too soon to tell. When asked about the 2008 election outcomes, Ensign said, "Predictions this time of year are stupid." Senator Ensign feels that anything can happen between now and November. Especially in this age of Youtube moments, elections are as volatile as ever.

While David All began this conversation this morning, Ensign continued the discussion to say that the conservative's biggest problem is the ability to bring in organized cash flow. Compulsory unionism is the problem. "We need to firewall against bad legislation. Preserving the right to a secret ballot with no intimidation is fundamental to the way America runs elections" Ensign says that unions are trying to take that right away from Americans via card checks.

In the event that liberals hold 56 or 57 senate seats and take back the White House, pro-union card check legislation will pass, which means more money funnelled into Democatic campaigns via union dues.

Mike Slanker went on to give a state by state breakdown. The most worrisome states are: New Hampshire, Alaska, and Minnesota (in that order).

Slanker admitted that 2008 is not a great year for Republicans, expect to see some records set.

Expect that conservatives will be outspent 3:1.

The Brightside: We will win more competitive, in-play, seats than we lose, especially now that the Iraq and President Bush rhetoric continues to fall off America's list of national debate priorities.

Slanker believes the Democrat nominee can change everything now that Obama's negative numbers continue to rise daily.

The bottomline: Each race is candidate specific and unique and the quality of the candidate is everything.

To see what the NRSC is doing online, check out: Mark Begich Facts.

(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.

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.

With the retirement of Republican U.S. Senator John Warner in Virginia, all eyes are on the open contest.

On the Republican side, I'm hearing names like Congressman Tom Davis, former Governor Jim Gilmore, and Congressman Eric Cantor as likely candidates. All three would be very strong candidates.

But on the left, there's only one name that has me worried, Mark Warner. Today, Warner announced that he's in the race through a YouTube video and a website to help build his list:

Good video. Powerful message.

Without a leading candidate on our side, it's up to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) to help drive the narrative and push-back on Warner.

Fortunately, under the leadership of U.S. Senator John Ensign, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), has become an aggressive, modern campaign committee. And they're already making an impact on the race using modern media strategies.

For example, like most political junkies, one of my first reads each morning is MSNBC's First Read where I found links to Warner's announcement website. But that's not all. I also found a graf dedicated to the efforts of the NRSC:

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, however, released its own statement that unveils a Web site highlighting Warner's tax increase in Virginia. "Make no mistake about it, Mark Warner is a politician who can't be trusted to keep his promises to voters," NRSC communications director Rebecca Fisher said. "And his prime example is raising Virginians' taxes by $1.38 billion."

The "Don't Mark Warner" website also has this corny YouTube video which helps drive their message of Warner as a tax-and-spend liberal:

Now, to be fair to previous NRSC staffers, the NRSC's efforts to whip up anti-Dem candidate websites is not a new practice, and if they wouldn't have been prepared for a Mark Warner entry in to the race we'd all have serious doubts about the Committee. But this is the modern campaign trail. This is how things like websites, YouTube, and mainstream media work together--early--to craft narratives about a race.

I'd be remiss not to point out the strength of the Republican Party of Virginia through the leadership of folks like Shaun Kenney. In fact, Kenney has already blogged about the NRSC video which shows you how we everyone can work together to drive a narrative.

And make no mistake: The Virginia Senate race will be the race to watch this year. On the heels of the "macaca" controversy and now a strong sitting Democratic Senator, the netroots and the Democratic Party are hungry for blood in Virginia. They will work tirelessly, together, to help turn Virginia blue.

We must be willing to fight harder, faster, smarter, and quicker if we intend to hold this seat. And on the modern campaign trail, it's actions like those of the NRSC that make me think that we're heading in the right direction.

With Democrats continuing to be a party bereft of ideas they are trying to undercut the free market and must be stopped. I wanted to alert everyone to the NRSC’s newest Web site www.StopLiberalCensorship.com. There you can read about America’s opposition to the so-called Fairness Doctrine, including articles, editorials and op-eds and please take a minute to sign our online petition calling on Democrats to stop trying to stifle political debate.

I wanted to start by introducing myself to those of you I have not yet met. I am the ePress Secretary for the NRSC, which as most of you know has placed a much greater emphasis on reaching out to and integrating the Internet into our full campaign strategy.

I am planning on using this space to keep everyone updated and informed on our activities, including videos and new sites.

For starters, please check out our YouTube page: www.youtube.com/thenrsc which includes all of the videos we have produced to date.

Additionally, we recently launched a new site highlighting and quantifying the cost to each American (broken down by state) of a Democrat-led Congress: Cost of Democrats.

Please share this site with others, and if interested please blog roll on other sites, as it is incredibly important that people are well aware of the consequences they face when pulling the Democrat lever on Election Day.

Our efforts are already beginning to show results as Sen. Landrieu has been forced to address allegations of funneling federal dollars away from Louisiana and to NYC. In this instance Landrieu requested an earmark for a foundation in NYC that is supposed to set up an outpost in Louisiana. But the Dead Pelican blog exposed this and has forced Landrieu to release the earmark request and address these allegations on local TV. To read more check out Dead Pelican (currently in the middle column).

The stakes have never been higher as we work to take back Congress from the liberal left and keep the Presidency.

I look forward to working with all of you.

What a busy afternoon, seems like things are picking up a bit. As I was scanning The Politco one last time for today, I came across this post by Patrick O'Connor.

The Republican campaign arm in the Senate launched a new website Thursday to attack Democrats for indirectly raising taxes on American families.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee's new website, the Cost of Democrats.com, allows readers to click on a map of the United States that highlights the projected tax burden on each state if Congress adheres to the Democrats' five-year budget blueprint.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who faces reelection next year, headlines the new site.

With the NRCC's new rollout, the RNC's pickup of Cyrus Krohn and this new website, I feel like, maybe, just maybe, the drumbeat is starting to echo in people's ears. Time will tell.

We lost the Senate in 2006 because of the Internet, so to ignore it this cycle would be political malpractice. With that in mind, the NRSC has written a 39 page Web manual for Senate campaigns with tips on engaging bloggers, avoiding "macaca" moments and even how to ask for money online.