U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell has hired a blogger, Jon Henke, as New Media Director for the Republican Communication Office in the Senate. Henke, one of the contributors to the popular QandO blog, previously and briefly served in a similar role with U.S. Sen. George Allen's failed senate re-election campaign.
The Hill reports:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is helping fellow Republicans to take their embrace of the Internet to the next level, hiring conservative blogger Jon Henke to serve as new media director for all GOP conference members.Henke, who briefly advised former Sen. George Allen’s (R-Va.) reelection campaign on outreach to the blogosphere, co-writes the popular libertarian-leaning blog QandO.net. His new position will involve monitoring and interacting with new media outlets across the ideological spectrum, in addition to advising Senate Republicans on blog outreach, McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said.
Henke’s unique position indicates that McConnell “clearly sees [new] media as an important part of our communications efforts,” Stewart said. Many lawmakers have started up their own blogs in recent months, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). Stewart said Henke would be available to help interested Republicans set up Web journals of their own.
Henke announced his move from independent political blogger to the Senate Republicans' new-media guru on his blog on New Years' Day.
Wrote Henke: "The New Media is much more than simply a means of voter communication. Hopefully, engagement from politicians and interest groups will serve to improve the blogosphere, by giving us better access to more information, more quickly and with more context."
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