Senate Blog Row Wrap-Up

The Senate Republican Committee put on a stellar program today.  Made possible largely thanks to Conference Chairman Rick Santorum (PA), a panel of bloggers was given unprecedented access to a number of Republican Senators, who graciously indulged our questions on a variety of topics ranging from Alito to Zarqawi.

Attending Senators:

George Allen (VA)
Saxby Chambliss (GA)
John Thune (SD)
Wayne Allard (CO)
Craig Thomas (WY)
Rick Santorum (PA)
Sam Brownback (KS)
Bill Frist (TN)

Attending bloggers:

Mary Katherine Ham, Hugh Hewitt
William Beutler, Hotline
Justin Hart, Right Side Redux
Bill McCarthy, Defend Democracy
Pat Cleary, National Association of Manufacturers Blog
Orin Kerr, Volokh Conspiracy
TigerHawk, TigerHawk Blog
Tim Chapman, Townhall.com Capitol Report
Gerard Vanderleun, American Digest
Ed Driscoll, Open Source Media
Flip Pidot, Suitably Flip

(Please let me know if you know of anyone I didn't catch on my list.)

I'm in the process of chewing through my notes and working up a more thoughtful wrap-up, but I'd be remiss if I didn't also comment on our special behind-the-scenes tour of the Senate Republican Conference nerve center/communications office in the Hart Office Building (that's yours truly at right, in one of the SRC studios; photo by TigerHawk).

I'd already been duly impressed by the innovative ways the party has found to leverage alternative media channels.  But the SRC operations are really taking things to new heights.  In addition to being slathered in dark and shiny technology (not unlike the WOPR room from WarGames, only less 80's), but a swarm of terribly clever people are crawling around the joint, monitoring dozens of video feeds on integrated wall displays, mixing sound and video footage for web distribution, designing those flashy visual aids you see Senators using as Floor exhibits, and otherwise optimizing the 2-way flow of information among Senators, their constituents, and everyone in between (which I guess is called "the media").

Watch this space shortly for the fleshed out wrap-up of the Blog Row proper.  In the meantime, please enjoy the several prior entries below, posted live (and thus somewhat hastily) during this groundbreaking event.

First the House, then the Senate... it's been an exciting month to be a conservative blogger.  Could there be a Presidential Blog Row in the cards?

Previously:  House Blog Row Wrap-Up