Virginia’s Jon Henke goes to Washington:
It all started last Thursday when conservative Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., sought to strengthen the Senate’s ethics reform bill by amending it to include the same earmark reform language in the House-passed version. Reid’s deputy, Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., tried to kill the amendment, but nine Democrats broke ranks and backed DeMint. Instead of accepting defeat, Reid tried to twist arms and reverse the vote.
That’s when bloggers took notice. Rallying to DeMint’s defense, a coalition of bloggers, led by Andy Roth at the Club for Growth, documented Reid’s strong-arm tactics. The Examiner’s own Mark Tapscott and Ed Frank at Americans for Prosperity jumped on the story. I posted video on YouTube of Reid and DeMint’s clash on the Senate floor.
In the meantime, bloggers sent e-mails to Jon Henke, the newly hired new-media director for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. It’s Henke’s job to deal with bloggers, and if there was ever an occasion, this was it. Despite McConnell’s support for DeMint’s amendment, an Associated Press story reported otherwise, and Reid implied as much on the Senate floor.
McConnell’s staff got the message. Thursday evening, Henke e-mailed bloggers, “Sen. McConnell is supporting Sen. DeMint and doing everything we can to make sure that the Democrats don’t destroy earmark reform.” By the next day, Henke was keeping bloggers appraised of the latest developments.
That’s a kill. Read the whole thing if you want a peek into the future.