The way we interact with Government is about to change, and the shape of that change is up to us. The Internet is not just a way to raise money or mobilize supporters. It's a way to shrink the distance between people and politicians. For the first time in history, it's possible for hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people to have a single conversation. I'm not talking about the elimination of traditional news media or the implementation of a direct democracy. Expertise is important, and there will always be a need for professional journalists and public servants devoting all their energies towards government. I'm talking about adding a complementary channel, a new seat at the table.

A new list of conservatives on Twitter is making the rounds, a project of conservative writer Michael Leahy, but most interesting are Leahy's 10-step guide to building a conservative community on Twitter and projects like getting all 168 members of the RNC tweeting...The days of throwing up a brochureware website and calling it a day are largely dead and buried. Pew Internet Project digs into his group's research and says that, in 2008 and beyond, Americans won't settle for anything else than a collaborative experience on the web...Err, let's dial back that sweeping statement about the bells tolling for brochureware, shall we? That seems to be exactly the sort of 1.0 website that troubled Congressperson Charles Rangel paid his son's firm just under $80,000 for...and more.

The conservative online hub Red State has issued a call for the men and women eager to be the next head of the Republican National Convention to come to the site to lay out their vision of the way ahead, including "expanding the GOP's use of technology in the future and...the online apparatus of the RNC"...From Pearl Jam to SEIU to the ACLU, a coalition of progressive voices have gathered to urge President-elect Obama to put the Internet at center stage when he makes his picks for some of the biggest unfilled slots in his administration...The Internet can be friend and foe, as Team Obama is finding out, notes former Hillary Clinton staffer Peter Daou...and more.

Sure, you could spend these last waning hours of aught-eight in existential reflection on how admirably you spent the last twelve months, examining how to be a better you the year ahead. Nah. Spend them catching up the ongoing transition from wired Obama campaign to a presidential administration connecting with supporters and non-supporters alike...Pew's out with a new study that finds that a good chunk -- 62% -- of Obama voters have it in their heads to support President Obama's legislative agenda...and much more.

• One of the two executive orders signed by Barack Obama in his first full day in office pledged to shift governing presumptions about secrecy in the executive branch. With the swipe of a pen, Obama hopes to do away with the federal government's knee-jerk compulsion to squirrel away information...
• New White House staffers find themselves time-traveled back about, oh, a decade when they walk through 1600 Pennsylvania's gates...
• The latest in the on-going "will he or won't he" saga involving Obama's beloved Blackberry...
• And more.

• Even after dropping a $20 million provision for resodding the National Mall, Barack Obama's $819 billion stimulus package came up with a big goose egg when it comes to Republican votes in the House. And that's not to mention the 11 "no" votes in the Democratic column. So is this when the President turns for backup to the masses of supporters he gained during the campaign?...
• The Sunlight Foundation's John Wonderlich has a wonderful post making a critical point: in the minds of many, government transparency is quickly transforming from a "what" to a "how"...
• Senator-in-limbo Norm Coleman's campaign staff is claiming that the combined attention of "tens of thousands" of disenfranchised and otherwise angry Minnesotans has brought his website crashing down...
• House Minority Leader John Boehner narrates a new four-minute behind-the-scenes look at how the stimulus bill vote went down in the House yesterday. It's pretty masterful work...
• And more.