Tom Reynolds Becomes the 29th Republican Member of Congress Deciding to Retire this Term

It looks like Tom Reynolds, Congressman from New York’s 26th Congressional district has decided to call it quits after 10 years in the House. During those years, Reynolds had become a strong voice for the conservative movement, always ranking in the 80% range on American Conservative Union rankings. Shortly after he was elected, he got a seat on the prized Ways and Means Committee and also was selected to serve as the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) for the 2006 election cycle.

From CNN.com:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-New York, announced Thursday that he will retire at the end of his term, saying it was time “to take up new challenges.”

“As Abraham Lincoln said, ‘It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.’ ” Reynolds said during a press conference in Williamsville, New York. “So even at the tender age of 58, I think I have enough life, and enough years, left to embark on the next leg of the journey.”

Reynolds has represented his upstate New York district for five terms but won his last election by a small margin.

He will be the 29th Republican to retire from the House of Representatives this term, setting up potential gains for Democrats.

All I can say is that March has not been a good month for the NRCC. First bad fundraising, then finding out that it was linked to scandal, and then of course finding out another Republican leader, and former chairman is retiring. There isn’t really any way to spin that in a direct mail piece.

While I can understand why Tom Reynolds is retiring, what I cannot understand is why he waited so long to make up his mind. In looking at the latest FEC data, it appears that he has $1,016,846 on hand and his nearest opponents, Democrats Jonathan Power and Alice Kryzan only have $369,043 and $209,798 respectively.

As the article says, Reynolds becomes the 29th member to announce retirement in session of Congress.

Here is a list I pieced together of those Republicans who have announced retirement, but I’m sure that t here are some I’m missing:

Barbara Cubin, Chip Pickering, Dave Hobson, Deborah Pryce, Duncan Hunter, Heather Wilson, Jerry Weller, Jim McCrery, Jim Ramstad, Jim Saxton Jim Walsh, John Doolittle, John Peterson, Kenny Hulshof, Mike Ferguson, Ralph Regula, Ray LaHood, Rick Renzi, Ron Lewis, Steve Pearce, Terry Everett, Tom Davis, Tom Tancredo, Wayne Gilchrest and of course, now Tom Reynolds.

Facebook’s New Chat Feature

Well, it looks like facebook has decided to make another move to increase the addictiveness of their social networking platform:

(HT to Mark Johnson @ TechRepublican)

From CO-ED Magazine:

Facebook is set to launch a highly anticipated chat feature in the next 2 weeks to allow for real time communication within the popular social network.

While I can see this being just as annoying as the “poke” feature, I also see great value in something like this for issue and political advocacy campaigns, especially if there are features like group chat available.

One of the most difficult things for political campaigns who reach out to young people is actually getting them to show up to events. Sure, a campaign will see that 200 students signed up for a campaign event near campus, but the reality is that if 50% of those people show up, you can consider that a phenomenal turnout.

I think part of the reason for this is because its so easy to click “accept” or “confirm” when you receive something in your inbox without thinking about the timing and/or purpose. However, when you add another level and point of communication to your outreach efforts (in this case the chat feature), I think it becomes much more likely that your conversion rate from online to in person activities will significantly increase, simply because people will have to think about what you are proposing before they enter their reply in the chat box.

I’m sure it seems foolish, but I’m sure everyone can think of event invitations that they have received on Facebook and only clicked “attending” because you supported the person hosting the event.

Furthermore, if there is a group chat feature in this implementation, just imagine how easy it would be for organizations, campaigns, etc to collaborate in real time on a site young people frequent more than most others.

Another good example of how something like this could really have a place in politics/nonprofits is by having exclusive chat sessions with elected officials, organization presidents, etc for those members that have gone above and beyond the call of duty.

Whether that be a reward for someone who has helped grow the organization by recruiting members using the “causes” application, or simply by suggesting new contacts for the fan page, this additional point of contact could have a variety of implementations in the political and nonprofit worlds.

However, if this new feature cannot handle group chat, I think that it could be seen as a lacking product that can be more annoying than anything.

Either way, Facebook is doing an excellent job of keeping people hooked while still raking in millions of dollars in advertising revenue.

2009 Facebook IPO? Anyone? Anyone?