Last night, while you and I were sleeping, the Republican National Committee re-launched its website -- www.GOP.com. The mastermind behind the re-launch is RNC eGuru, Cyrus Krohn, a heavy-weight in many tech circles.

RNC Chairman Mike Duncan has a video message up on the homepage of the site welcoming visitors to the "new" site (it is not a YouTube embed), and RNC eStaffer James Richardson had this interesting nugget in his blog post explaining the re-launch and noting some of the features:

The Republican National Committee is committed to maintaining and gaining a technological advantage on the web and this is clearly a step in that direction.

Interesting nugget because I think this website is indicative of a "change" in thinking at the RNC. Less "control" + more community = relevance.

Of note, it appears that the RNC has dusted off their myGOP social networking site to include some new features. I asked Cyrus for some more information about it and sent along the following in an email:

The new gop.com was designed based on statistics from historical data on user interaction. We're providing our core audience access to information they are seeking and the tools to consume that content however they wish.

For first-time visitors, we offer an interface that is easily navigable, with immediate access to the news, information tools, and services to make their experience positive and informative.

Through the use of RSS feeds, email sign-up, mobile alerts, social networking and bookmarking, we're providing our audience with the opportunity to consume gop.com content at any time, from any place, and on any device.

And Cyrus adds, perhaps with a wink, that there's more to come:

MyGOP is our in-house social network and we look forward to the participation of Republicans from across the country, and world along with to the thousands who already interact with each other there. You can create your own campaign goals, recruit others, share photos and videos and blog on your personal page on gop.com

We just released the new gop.com and are already working on new functionality to further improve on our efforts. This version of the site is only the first of several upgrades as we march towards victory in 2008 and beyond, reaching voters of all ages and backgrounds online.

The site also tries to push you away (and back in to your social media hubs) as quickly as possible where they have established their presence in places like Facebook, YouTube, Myspace, etc. -- a testament to how far the RNC has come with its embrace of Web 2.0.

Porridge to Cyrus et al. for the successful re-launch. It's good to see resources being spent wisely and I look forward to watching this blossom in to a helpful resource for the Republican Party (Finally?).