In an op-ed titled, ‘Roots of Defeat’, Ruffini states, “Let us study, and emulate, the Left’s online tactics.”

In an effort to rebuild the conservative blogosphere and persuade the 47% of Americans that did not vote for Barack Obama to “look at what the bloggers in the left have been doing and learn to be activists, too”, Ruffini created RebuildTheParty.com, a web site that went live less than 48 hours after the GOP lost the White House.  Ruffini states in his op-ed, “Republicans are on the outs at all levels of government, they will need the Internet as a tool of opposition…Failure to grab hold of it could signal a long, long winter to come."

However, Obama’s vast grassroots network will not be sitting idly for the next four years while Conservatives play catch up.  As a recent article in the Washington Post’s put it, there are “basically two kinds of influential political Web sites: sites that use a top-down hierarchy, whereby a central organization develops a message and disseminates it using social-networking technology, and sites that use a Wikipedia-type method, in which thousands of individual users contribute content and drive the message.”

Obama has harnessed the “Wikipedia-type” method and is continuing to utilize the Internet in his transition to the White House.  David Plouffe, Obama’s Internet Campaign Manager, sent out an email announcing that Obama had picked his economic team and has continued to seek citizen engagement via technology and online tools:

“On December 13th and 14th, supporters are coming together to reflect on what we've accomplished and help plan the future of this movement.

Many of you have already submitted your feedback through our online survey. Our team in Chicago is reviewing an impressive number of detailed responses, and your input will help guide the future of this grassroots movement.

Sign up to host a Change is Coming house meeting and invite your friends, family, and neighbors to attend.

You'll receive everything you need to make your meeting a success, including a special DVD our team put together just for these events.

Discuss the issues that are most important to you, what you can do to support Barack's agenda, and how you can continue to make an impact in your community.”