I’m mentioned about 3/4 of the way down, along with the snark-lovely (snovely?) E.M. Zanotti and my new friend and reigning Twitter Queen Melissa Clouthier.

Also mentioned are new pals Eric Telford, Jon Fleischman, Todd Thurman and old pals at ATR.

Not mentioned is Twitter King Stephen Kruiser who has a great blog. And who also does a daily show for RFC Radio. And who has also been appearing on Pajamas Media TV lately.  And who has been invited to appear on FNC’s Red Eye. He was invited the day time conference but mostly hung out after hours and kept us laughing.  (Rising Star Alert!)

It would take half a day to create a complete Who’s Who list of who was there last week.  So I won’t.  But I will say this:

I was encouraged to hear so much talk – in lectures, on panels, in workshops, and after hours – about New Media and blogging and their place in the conservative movement.

My first mantra for the two-days can be summed up as this: 

Conservative organizations need to pony up and budget money for Technology and New Media both internally and as part of their overall communications plan.  We can talk about citizen-activists and grassroots efforts all we want – and volunteerism is powerful – but a lot of the things we need to accomplish cost money because they require significant time + intense labor. 

The Left is already spending millions on online marketing and activism; the Right is still behind.

(Note to my blogger buddies:  I’m going to see if I can get my hands on a few of Alex Castellanos‘ PowerPoint slides from Thursday so I can try to post some blurbs.  If anyone knows him personally, help a girl out.)

Mantra Two: 

Figure out some new messaging some of the time.  There’s a huge demographic of conservatives (ages 18 to 49) who passionately believe in our principles but who do not fit the stereotype.  

They are Middle Americans.  They work and live regular lives.  They budget and pay their bills and save a little.  And expect their government to do the same.  They don’t go to conservative leadership conferences.  They don’t read National Review.  They rarely (if ever) wear a tie.  They own guns and would use them if needed.  They’re pro-military, pro-defense, and pro-kill-the-SOB’s-before-they-kill-us-first.  They live life enthusiastically and at times a little irreverently. They love rock-n-roll or sh*t-kickin’ country music. They hate political correctness.  They love the flag.  They spend time with their kids and then send ‘em to bed so they can watch their DVR’d TV shows, read their news online, and watch South Park.  They laugh at (and make) off color remarks. They listen to RFC Radio.  They are tired of conservatives who are not Conservatives and Republicans who are really Democrats.  They are tired of being mocked and pigeon-holed and they really don’t give a damn about people in Washington D.C.

If you’re a movement person or organization, you should be asking yourself:  “How do I reach these folks?”