Less than 360 days since the national Democrats embraced “new media” to take over Washington at all levels by energizing new voters, it looks like the SC GOP is ready to embrace these “gadgets” too.

It’s been well documented how much the Democrats relied on “new media” to get their message out to the masses , raise tons of money , and get out their vote .

So now, instead of having to just combat the “normal media”, Republicans had better ratchet it up a notch ourselves and start getting on board “new media”.

I was pleased to hear GOP Chairman candidates mention the need to embrace new technology and I’m sure new Chairman Karen Floyd will certainly maximize this medium to help maintain a majority in South Carolina.

Several of us elected officials have been using websites, Twitter and Facebook to communicate with constituents and voters for some time now. We also continue to use the ‘traditional’ ways of staying in touch: constituent service nights, columns in local papers, phone calls, and mailings.

We get it. Hopefully others soon will too.

Last night I was sent a message to text SCGOP to 97180. (I imagine this will be used to help with state fundraising events, GOTV efforts, etc.) So I took 30 seconds and signed up. Hopefully, all Republicans can do the same.

I also heard a few weeks ago that our House Republican Caucus may finally get the much talked about (since last summer) upgrade on our website. We’ll finally trade in our Atari for maybe a Wii. Of course, it’s not like our friends across the aisle in the House are techno-geeks themselves ( House Democrat Caucus Site )

Hopefully the website will look similar to the Senate Republican Caucus and actually connect citizens to more than our bios on the State House Website.

Many voters never hear from their elected officials until it’s election time (coincidence?). That’s wrong. Many voters have no idea how their officials are voting (don’t get me started on that) and that’s wrong.

Granted, many of you probably could care less how we spend our family time but to me, the more we can connect with voters, the better they can know us as individuals and their Representatives and Senators.

We aren’t all “policy wonks” and don’t think too highly of ourselves. We’re supposed to be part-time legislators. We’re supposed to make decisions for the good of the entire state. We’re supposed to listen and we’re supposed to lead.

How can we do that if you never hear from us or we never hear from you?

Looks like that’s changing everyday as more elected officials are embracing “new media”. As someone who once resisted the whole “new media” concept, I’m glad to see both parties embracing it – or soon embracing it.