July 18, 2008 - 14:55

Mass. GOP plans to broadcast convention online

Hoping to bring Bay State Republicans as close to the action as possible, the Massachusetts GOP is planning to stream video from the Republican National Convention on its website.

Approximately 130 delegates, alternates and guests will represent the Bay State Sept. 1-4 at the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minn.

While all the plans have yet to be nailed down, Robert Willington, the Massachusetts GOP's Executive Director, said he plans to broadcast as much as he can on the party's website, MassGOP.com.

"No matter what we do," Willington told PolitickerMA.com, "I'm going to live stream all of our events on MassGOP.com and it will be scheduled ahead of time so people can tune in."

The Massachusetts delegation will be staying at the Crowne Plaza in Bloomington with the West Virginia delegation. The party will host a breakfast every morning and Willington is currently trying to schedule prominent Republicans from around the country to come and speak to the delegation. Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is expected to speak to the delegation, and Willington also hopes to schedule Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) and Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) for the breakfasts.

Willington is planning to take his video camera behind the scenes to give Republicans access to part of the convention not covered by the news networks. "What I want to do is live stream the stuff people won't see," he said, "the events outside the arena and with our delegation." Willington will archive all of his videos on the party's YouTube channel.

Willington is also hoping to mobilize the delegation to work for U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman's (R-Minn.) campaign. Coleman is in a tight race with comedian and former radio talk show host Al Franken, (D) and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura (I) recently hinted at a possible run.

"Coleman has a headquarters in downtown St. Paul," he said, "so hopefully we can organize either a phone bank or a literature drop that advances the GOP and combine it with a social event after that."

"It's crazy," he went on, "to have all those Republicans in an important U.S. Senate race and not give back something to the party."

Jeremy P. Jacobs is a PolitickerMA.com Reporter and can be reached via email at noreply@politicker.com.

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