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When Republican Senator Mitch McConnell returned to Washington to get to work, he brought along Jon Henke to serve in a position in the US Senate.

QandO blogger Henke announced that as of January 3rd, he'll have a new job working in DC. He'll serve under McConnell as New Media Director for the Republican Communication Office in the Senate.

Henke wrote that his appointment indicated "Republicans are taking New Media engagement seriously.":

That's important, because the Republicans are getting into the game a bit late. Echoing a point I've made before about blogs and campaigns, Craig Shirley points out the importance of the new media...

"The Internet, e-mail, blogs, and websites are to organizational politics what the telephone was starting in the 1940s or what direct mail was starting in the 1960s," said Craig Shirley, an author and political consultant who worked on Reagan's presidential campaigns.
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire blog (I know, isn't it amazing that the WSJ has blogs?) reported that this won't be Henke's first political job. He joined the Senate campaign for Virginia's George Allen as a netroots coordinator, but Allen never recovered from his heat of the moment "macaca" reference to an opposition campaign worker.

Henke will need to get Republicans on board with the whole grass roots blogosphere concept. In McConnell's case he has an easier task, as Washington Wire noted McConnell will chat via conference call with bloggers on Thursday after participating in a call with hometown Kentucky media.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.