Fortune magazine has a great piece on Sen. McCain’s Healthcare plan.  It is important that as a party we take the hint from public opinion polls: Americans want a plan to solve the healthcare crisis!  We have an excellent opportunity here to define the context of real solutions: are we going to have free market healthcare, where doctors and patients make decisions? or are we going to bow to D.C. beauracrats.  We need to be talking about this, and we need to be loud.

Attention State and Chapter Chairmen! Tomorrow you’ll be able to launch public sites for your federations and chapters. You can then put the site on your business cards, flyers, and email signatures.  You can request the blank.collegerepublicans.org url of your choice by emailing storm@crnc.org with your chapter name, state and desired URL.The sites were created with a very simple, clean web 2.0 feel. Best of all, the sites were designed in such a way that as you add and update events and CR news in your STORM federation/chapter page, the technology automatically updates your public website as well. Even leadership positions and bios will automatically update as you appoint/remove executive board members.Never has maintaining a public website been simpler.

Facebook now allows you to use Republican Party as a political designation for your profile.  Show you colors today!

See email below…

Members of the National Board,

The CRNC Executive Board is pleased to announce the election of Blake Harris as National Co-Chairman. During a Sunday evening vote, Blake was unanimously elected by the national officers. The former Chairman of the College Republican Federation of Alabama and Political Director of the CRNC played an important role in the election of the New CRNC team last year and we enthusiastically welcome him back to the team. We eagerly look forward to working together towards ensuring Republican victories in 2008.

As you know, Blake is filing the position of former National Co-Chairman Nick Miccarelli who resigned his post to run for state representative in Pennsylvania. Blake will join other national officers in traveling to many of your state conventions this spring. If you have not already made the office aware of your state’s convention, please do so as soon as possible. You can contact Blake at bharris@crnc.org or the CRNC office at info@crnc.org or by phone at 202-608-1411.

Thank you-

Charlie Smith
National Chairman

Dan Carlson Esther Clark
National Secretary

Esther Clark
National Treasurer

Michael Keough
Northeast Regional Vice Chairman

Kristy Cottrell
Southern Regional Vice Chairman

Justin Smith
Midwestern Regional Vice Chairman

Zach Howell
Western Regional Vice Chairman

We read the deep political commentaries. We listen to the talk radios. We watch the news. Its all the same ol’, same ol’.

But now there’s a different kind of blog on the scenes, one written by a girl our age who talks not only about politics but pop culture too. This blogger provides a unique perspective that no one else has — she is the 23-year-old daughter of John McCain.

That’s right. McCain’s daughter Meghan shares her experience as she travels the country on the Straight Talk Express. Check out her blog for a lighthearted, inner look at her father’s campaign.

http://www.mccainblogette.com

On youth voters, with a few words from yours truly

Check out the story from Hot Air

The Chicago Sun Times got a nice scoop on Sen. Obama’s long awaited release of his Earmarks for Change as I call them. 

The Story is available here, ive also posted the full list of earmarks after the jump.  (more…)

Let’s all hearken back to about a year ago, and remember what the situation in Iraq was like. The media was reporting dire circumstances, no political progress, and high death tolls on a nearly daily basis. In response, approval for the war effort was low - and the election prospects for people like Sen. John McCain were dim.

Fast forward to the present, and we are experiencing success on multiple fronts in Iraq as deaths of both Americans and Iraqis have plummeted, political progress is being made, and the terrorists and Muqtada al-Sadr are giving up and moving to Iran.

And what of the stories telling the fatal tale of John McCain being the largest proponent of the proven successful surge strategy? Well, let’s go to the polls:

According to late February polling conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 53 percent of Americans — a slim majority — now believe “the U.S. will ultimately succeed in achieving its goals” in Iraq. That figure is up from 42 percent in September 2007.

The percentage of those who believe the war in Iraq is going “very well” or “fairly well” is also up, from 30 percent in February 2007 to 48 percent today.

As I’ve always said, Americans love to win - and as long as we have leaders like John McCain in America, we will win.

After all he’s been there for 24 YEARS! Jim Ogonowski has an uphill battle to be sure in unseating such an entrenched insider, but he’s got a great start with creative messaging like this: