There's an excellent profile piece on RNC eCampaign Director Cyrus Krohn written by Jose Antonio Vargas. I've been watching for this piece to surface for quite a while -- ever since I introduced the two in a coffee shop off Capitol Hill last year.

The most interesting nugget in the story is the battle Cyrus appears to be fighting internally at the RNC to convince higher-ups to pull dollars away from the folks who like to run 30-second ads to go toward an effective online strategy. No doubt a difficult fight that is just getting started.

However, Cyrus uses the most effective argument to yield undeniable credibility to his argument -- data and results.

Krohn bristles at the criticism of McCain's eCampaign team. For instance, he says, "both parties are still too TV-obsessed."

"The use of TV in campaigns is kind of like our dependency on foreign oil. We know we have to get off it. We know we need to find alternative energy sources. But we keep on going back to the pump," Krohn continues. "Fact is, we need to develop a higher degree of comfort with allocating media dollars to the Web."

Last summer, he got the chance to test the effectiveness of the Internet as a stand-alone campaign tool. With the permission of the RNC's senior staff, Krohn zeroed in on the Louisiana gubernatorial race. Then-Rep. Bobby Jindal was an attractive candidate, Krohn says, and it was projected to be a tight race. For 3 1/2 months, using online micro-targeting and data-matching, he identified a set of voters and turned them out to the polls.

Statewide turnout for the Louisiana race was 46 percent. Of those voters who interacted with Krohn's online targeting -- he won't say how much of the total vote -- 76 percent voted, he claims. Krohn says he's not suggesting that the RNC is responsible for Jindal's win. What it does suggest, however, is that the model could have significant impact on voter turnout, he adds.

"Everyone is talking about Obama and his success with the youth vote. Well, there's a significant older demographic on the Web, and what I was able to do in Louisiana is identify and interact with an older voting bloc," Krohn says.

Results are the reason why the web is the killer medium for politics.

No doubt you can reach a load of voters at the end of the campaign with TV ads -- and that still needs to happen -- but perhaps you run a few less spots in order to have an effective online strategy. I don't think we'll see much of a shift in resources this cycle.

The Republican National Committee has launched its latest micro-site: GOPPlatform2008.com.

From the introduction!!!!!:

Welcome to the most grassroots-driven platform development effort in the history of American politics!

The Republican Party is seeking your input as we develop the policies and principles upon which we should stand for the next four years. On this website, you can share your thoughts, participate in polls, and communicate directly with the policymakers who will be shaping the party's agenda. All comments and feedback will be reviewed and taken into full consideration as we prepare for our convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

We hope that this process will guarantee the greatest amount of public input into any platform in American history!

"Input" from the American people can be interpreted anyway you like. Will any of this "input" make it to the actual platform? To be determined.

In the same spirit as the 92-page platform from 2004, and just in case anyone actually listens and cares, I'll add my two cents:

* A choice between nationwide high-speed Internet access and dial-up.

UPDATE 9:43 AM: Just a quick FYI - I submitted my text entry under Jobs & Economy >> Technology Policy and it hasn't yet surfaced so there's clearly a moderation policy.

UPDATE Saturday, 9:34 AM: Eric Pfeiffer has more on this over at the Ground Game including some more feedback from me. Also, shortly after I wrote this post, a top RNC official emailed me to explain that the moderation policy was only to prevent liberal bloggers from taking over the site. He explained my comment was posted within seconds.

Today I had an opportunity to meet and have a candid conversation with Carly Fiorina, the former head of HP, who is currently serving as the RNC's Victory Chair. Issues covered in the interview include her new role in support of John McCain and the Republican Party, Barack Obama's success on the Internet, McCain's strong opposition to Internet taxation, Net Neutrality/Open Internet, and her personal use of technology.

Here's the interview via YouTube (full transcript below):

For background and relevant posts from this space that have included Carly, read the following items:
* Thank God! High-Tech Women Taking Hold of McCain Campaign;
* McCain to Embrace the Long Tail of Fundrasing; and
* Will McCain Support an Open Internet?.

FULL TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW:

David All: Ok, it’s DAVID ALL with TechRepublican. I’m here with CARLY FIORINA the new Victory Chairman for the Republican National Committee. And what exactly is that Carly?

Carly Fiorina: Well, it turns out that my role really is to advocate for both JOHN MCCAIN and for the Republican Party. And to make sure that as many Americans as possible understand why this is the Party of the future and why John McCain is the right man to be President of the United States.

DA: Absolutely. A few quick questions. Do you have an iPhone or a blackberry?

CF: I have two blackberry’s actually. My husband is an iPhone man so we kind of having dueling technology in the house.

DA: Very interesting. And are you a Mac user or do you stick to HP?

CF: No I’m still an HP user I have to say, although the Mac is a beautiful, wonderful piece of machinery so we may get there one of these days.

DA: Very interesting. Well I actually wrote about you and Meg Whitman joining the team as a real great sign that some strong women who are Republicans are taking a very active role and a very vocal role in John McCain’s campaign. If you can just talk to me a little bit about what it means to be a female and at the top of the Party as you are, and possibly going up against Hillary Clinton and what that could mean?

CF: Well I’ve been a Republican all my life and I’ve been with John McCain on this campaign for the last 15 months. And I first met him in 2000 not associated with his campaign but on the subject of Internet taxation. And I think one of the things that is very important in this campaign is first, that the American people understand that John McCain wants the best and the brightest around him – and if we’re women so much the better – but I think it’s also really important for the Republican Party to reach out to more women – to reach out to all aspects of American society – because we need more than die-hard Republicans to win this election and I think John McCain is the man who can reach out.

DA: Very interesting. And when you were named Fortune named you what, the “Top Woman,” what was the actual title in 1998?

CF: For six years running I was what Fortune Magazine called the “Most Powerful Woman in Business…”

DA: And you didn’t like that right?

CF: I shouldn’t say it that way. Look, it was a tremendous honor, and I think highlighting successful women in business is hopefully an inspiration to others. But on the other hand, the point I made then was if you have one list for women, then what you’re basically saying is that business is like tennis or golf or some other kind of sport. You know, there’s the women’s ladder and there’s the men’s ladder. And business is better – politics is better – if everybody gets to play, so there shouldn’t be a special list for women.

DA: Very interesting. One issue I want to address quickly is what I call the Long Tail of Politics and the Long Tail of Fundraising. Of course this is off of Chris Anderson’s idea and Barack Obama is really tapping in to these folks who have never contributed money before and they’re giving in low contributions. How do you intend to help navigate John McCain toward that direction?

CF: Well first of all we have a very experienced and top-notch fundraising team and I have to say right up front that I’m not a fundraiser so I’m not the expert here. But what I would say is that it’s pretty clear that Barack Obama has done a fantastic job of tapping in to a whole new set of interested parties and in using technology to help him do that. And so we have to do more and more of that. I think it’s fair to say that we have work to do and John McCain says that but it’s also fair to say that we are using technology more and more creatively and aggressively here. So there is a lot going on with search engine marketing for example, and search engine optimization on the campaign. There were some cute things that were done by the RNC around eCards, Valentine’s Day for example. We do more and more in terms of Facebook independence. So we’re doing the right things, we need to do more of them, and I think we need to give Barack Obama his due and say he’s done a brilliant job and we can all learn from it.

DA: Fantastic. One issue I want to talk about is policy. Our community cares about technology-related issues. One issue, which is starting to bubble up more and more, is the issue of Net Neutrality and an Open Internet. I wonder if you had a position on that issue?

CF: Well let me broaden the question slightly because it’s relevant to why I’m supporting John McCain. Innovation is what grows economies. Innovation is what creates jobs. It’s always been true. But sometimes, some people forget that. And innovation can be fostered or it can be inhibited. The reason I went to meet with John McCain in the year 2000 many years ago on the subject of Internet taxation was to make the case that we can’t tax innovation. And John McCain “got it” immediately. He has since said that we ought to ban permanently taxation on the Internet or taxation on mobile technologies, etc. Now why is all that relevant? It’s relevant because if we are going to grow our economy, which is vital, particularly when you look at the jobs reports we’ve seen over the last couple days, then we have to be fostering innovative technologies and we have to be focused on policies that incent and reward innovation. And so that’s the context that I look at Net Neutrality in. Sorry for the long-winded answer, but I think that context is really important and we all know that where we talk a lot about free markets not all of our markets are free. And there are a variety of players today that impact on the Internet – cable companies as an example – I think it’s fair to say that we don’t have a completely free market on this issue today and so there’s some things that government could do to accelerate a true free-market.

DA: There’s a rumor going around saying that you may be in the hat for VP? Have you heard this?

CF: I don’t even think about that. Nobody else should either. The media loves to talk about the rumors of the moment. The media has been spending a lot of time talking about John McCain’s VP choice. John will make that decision when he is good and ready not before. At the very least, probably, I would guess, he’ll wait until we know who the opponent is on the other side. But look, I’m privileged to be able to make a difference I hope in electing a great man to be a great President. And as well, to help introduce the Republican Party to people who may not have thought about the Republican Party before and to invite people to this Party because I think this is the Party of innovation, and job creation, and growth. I think this is the Party of the future.

DA: Well that’s kind of a grandiose idea but let’s take a step back and if we can conclude here, if there’s one thing that you hope to accomplish that’s tangible, that you can reach out and grab, I mean you’re a CEO you have to do this stuff all the time, what would that be?
CF: We have to win in November that’s a really easy answer. We have to win the White House in November.

DA: Well there you go, there you have it. Well thanks very much and good luck and we’ll talk to you soon.

CF: Great, thanks.

Yesterday, the Republican National Committee started actively engaging its Twitter profile @RNC. They did so by seeking out folks to follow.

The reaction from the Twittering community, of which I'm an active member, was mixed. Some folks were a little confused that @RNC was following their updates, others, weren't very pleased at all.

A sampling via TweetScan:

I posted my own tweet:

But what I really found interesting was this tweet by Peter Fleck:

Could it be possible that the Democratic National Committee was not actively engaging Twitter? I checked their alleged profile, @DNC, and found this to indeed be the case:

Score for the good guys! A nice scoop of porridge to our friends at the RNC: @CyrusK, @JamesRichardson, @LizMair.

By the way, you can get all of your TechRepublican updates (RSS2Twitter) by following @TechRepublican.

As reported by the WSJ, two high-profile women from our technology space have joined the RNC to help ensure John McCain's victory in 2008.

* Carly Fiorina, the former head of HP, joined up as the RNC's "Victory Chairman." [Resources: Wiki entry, RNC press release, HP press release announcing Fiorina stepping down (Feb 2005).]

I first blogged about my respect and admiration for Carly back in October when I was writing about women I look up to as role models. I'm in the process of landing an interview with Carly for TechRepublican Video so I expect you'll hear directly from her in the near future.

* Meg Whitman, the "retirement-bound chief executive of eBay Inc.," joined McCain's team as a national co-chairwoman. [Resources: RNC release, Bio on eBay, Wiki entry].

It's important to note that Whitman was a longtime ally for Mitt Romney and as reported briefly by the LA Times, is considering a run as governor of California in 2010. She'll be a welcome addition to the team who can both help with McCain's fundraising efforts and help push-back on the narrative (which was ironically started by Mitt) that John McCain is weak on the economy.

CONCLUSION
It's great to see McCain's camp tapping these women to help with messaging and fundraising. However, I'm also hopeful that these women will spend some time with RNC eCampaign Director Cyrus Krohn and the rest of the team to help offer their advice on how to more effectively use the Internet to beat Democrats. We can use all the help we can get.

UPDATE March 17, 10:20 AM EST: A little birdy at the RNC passes along Carly's YouTube introduction:

UPDATE March 17, 11:30 AM: TechCrunch has posted a lengthy interview with Carly (audio and transcript). Good to see Team McCain continuing to reach out in to the tech space.

The Republican National Committee just announced that it raised more than $83 million in 2007 which will be used to help defeat Hillary Clinton Barack Obama some Democrat.

Excerpt from the release:

In raising more than $83 million over the course of the year, more than 800,000 supporters sent an average of $227,000 to the RNC every single day. The RNC is debt free and had $17.2 million cash on hand at the end of the year, all of which will be dedicated to helping elect Republicans in 2008.

Let's hope some of that money goes to an effective online strategy.

UPDATE Jan. 3; 8:21 AM: While we're on the subject of the RNC, I'll point out Marc Ambinder's post from yesterday where he briefly pointed out two staff hirings which I'll expound upon here:

1. Liz Mair has accepted a new position as the RNC's Online Communications Director. Liz is known well in the Right-o-sphere as the founder of GOPProgress.com, a "RedState-style blog for libertarian, mainstream and moderate Republicans." I haven't yet talked with Liz specifically about what her role will be (is she the first "online comm dir ever?"), but my assumption is that she will be responsible for helping articulate the RNC's message through modern mediums and act as the Spokesblogger for the conservative blogosphere. I'm left wondering if she will be in eGuru Cyrus Krohn's department or the RNC Communications team but I guess it's funny how it's all merging toward the Internet delta.

2. In non-tech news at the RNC, my friend Alex Conant has become the new press secretary. I first met Alex when he worked for Senator John Thune and then later worked with him directly when he served at the White House as a regional spokesman (one of the states in his region was Michigan where I was the Communications Director for a Senate race). Alex is an extremely hard worker with a pithy tongue who always offered strong advice to me on how best to frame messages.

The RNC has an important job tomorrow and it looks like they're gearing up for it today.

Last night, while you and I were sleeping, the Republican National Committee re-launched its website -- www.GOP.com. The mastermind behind the re-launch is RNC eGuru, Cyrus Krohn, a heavy-weight in many tech circles.

RNC Chairman Mike Duncan has a video message up on the homepage of the site welcoming visitors to the "new" site (it is not a YouTube embed), and RNC eStaffer James Richardson had this interesting nugget in his blog post explaining the re-launch and noting some of the features:

The Republican National Committee is committed to maintaining and gaining a technological advantage on the web and this is clearly a step in that direction.

Interesting nugget because I think this website is indicative of a "change" in thinking at the RNC. Less "control" + more community = relevance.

Of note, it appears that the RNC has dusted off their myGOP social networking site to include some new features. I asked Cyrus for some more information about it and sent along the following in an email:

The new gop.com was designed based on statistics from historical data on user interaction. We're providing our core audience access to information they are seeking and the tools to consume that content however they wish.

For first-time visitors, we offer an interface that is easily navigable, with immediate access to the news, information tools, and services to make their experience positive and informative.

Through the use of RSS feeds, email sign-up, mobile alerts, social networking and bookmarking, we're providing our audience with the opportunity to consume gop.com content at any time, from any place, and on any device.

And Cyrus adds, perhaps with a wink, that there's more to come:

MyGOP is our in-house social network and we look forward to the participation of Republicans from across the country, and world along with to the thousands who already interact with each other there. You can create your own campaign goals, recruit others, share photos and videos and blog on your personal page on gop.com

We just released the new gop.com and are already working on new functionality to further improve on our efforts. This version of the site is only the first of several upgrades as we march towards victory in 2008 and beyond, reaching voters of all ages and backgrounds online.

The site also tries to push you away (and back in to your social media hubs) as quickly as possible where they have established their presence in places like Facebook, YouTube, Myspace, etc. -- a testament to how far the RNC has come with its embrace of Web 2.0.

Porridge to Cyrus et al. for the successful re-launch. It's good to see resources being spent wisely and I look forward to watching this blossom in to a helpful resource for the Republican Party (Finally?).

I'm sorry to have missed this event:

The RNC’s Director of eCampaign, Cyrus Krohn, is on a panel with Joe Trippi today at “The New New Internet Web 2.0 for Business & Government conference.” As you’ll recall, Trippi ran Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign and used the Internet effectively to generate online support and contributions. He is now a senior advisor to the John Edwards for President campaign and remains a vocal proponent of democratizing Democracy through the Internet. We have to wonder if he is responsible for this effort to remove unfavorable content about his candidate from YouTube contradicting his principles of the Internet.

In Trippi’s book, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything, he says on page 102 he thinks the “Democratic Party [has] a leg up on the Internet”. Krohn will refute this point during his panel discussion later today. For those of you unable to attend with such late notice, Krohn will be twittering occasionally from the event between 1:15-2:05 p.m. ET. You can view his Twitter posts here or on Krohn’s Facebook page where he has a Twitter feed enabled.

Fortunately I'm now following @cyrusk. Are you?

The Politico's Ben Smith has the full story, but here are a few nuggets to tide you over:

The party's new eCampaign Director, Cyrus Krohn, is a new media veteran who helped start the Web magazine Slate in 1996 and is now the director of election strategy at Yahoo!. His hire comes after a nearly six-month vacancy at the RNC that had raised concerns among some tech-savvy Republicans that the party was losing its Web edge.

One interesting perspective which Krohn brings to the table:

He argues that the underused political frontier isn't new social sites like YouTube and MySpace but the (relatively) old titans of the Web such as AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN and their Latino cousins.

"I look at the universe of some of the sites that have fallen out of favor that still have audiences that anyone would be attracted to -- audiences in the hundreds of millions," Krohn said, adding that he would not "rely so much on the sites that are so much in the lexicon today.”

Krohn has quite an extensive career in Republican politics and also the technology sector.

I look forward to hearing more from him and about his vision to help get the GOP moving forward in the online world. Our door here at TechRepublican will be open if you want to join the discussion.

However, no matter what, I remain a Google guy.

The RNC's firing of its entire telemarketing staff (an operation famous for giving luminaries like Ed Gillespie and Ari Fleischer their starts) aligns with a certain view of the immigration debate. But as someone who's a little bit familiar with the operation, I think the decision had little if anything to do with the current political climate.

The real culprit: technology.