New media driving conservative communications

Norquist said his group co-sponsored the Feb. 27 rallies after being asked by organizers at his Wednesday breakfast. "We hoped it would catch on," he said.

Martin, the Tea Party Patriots coordinator, said organizers "were trying to get some existing organizations to endorse what we were doing. It kind of lent credibility."

She acknowledged that may not appear to "jibe" with portrayals of the movement as organic, but pointed out that hundreds of local tea-party groups have since sprung up.

Yet the tea party-Beltway nexus continues. Tea-party groups held a health-care town hall meeting at Norquist's offices in June, and Martin said his group, the Heritage Foundation and the National Taxpayers Union "have been helpful, sometimes by saying, 'Here are talking points we've created.' "

Outside the Beltway, tea parties have been aided by the State Policy Network's think tanks, which have supplied rally speakers and intellectual ammunition. The think tanks, which numbered 14 two decades ago, push conservative legislative priorities in states .

An ally of the policy network is the little-known Sam Adams Alliance in Chicago, formed by the onetime Libertarian Party national director. It works with online activists and provided nearly a million dollars to spin off two other rising groups.

One, the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, is run by the former head of the North Dakota Republican Party and operates Web sites that cover local news in several states. Another group, American Majority, is headed by Ned Ryun, son of former congressman Jim Ryun (R-Kan.). It has trained several thousand tea-party activists.

Actually, the bulk of the tea party movement is much more "organic" than Markson realizes and fiercely independent. But this "nexus" he writes about is very helpful as a clearinghouse for ideas and training activiists.

One aspect of the new media that Markson ignores is the conservative dominance on Twitter that instantly links activists when stories break or mass action is necessary. Twitter was huge during the Scott Brown campaign, as well as the McDonnell governor's race in Virginia. New media guru Patrick Ruffini fleshed out the potential of social networking vehicles and it paid off in fund raising and GOTV efforts.

In short, conservative are going into the 2010 mid terms in fantastic shape on the web. I'm sure even more innovative and surprising uses of these tools will emerge before election day.

Hat Tip: Ed Lasky