I'm off to Las Vegas tomorrow to spend three days perusing the latest and greatest tech gadgets at the annual Consumer Electronics Show. While much of that is geared toward another endeavor, I'll be keeping an eye out for tools and technologies that could be used for political purposes.

If I see anything that looks like it has potential for attracting, communicating with, or mobilizing voters/activists, I'll snap some pics, write up a blurb, and let you know about it.

In the meantime, if you've got anything you'd like me to look for, or something I must see, leave me a comment.

Let's take a bite at one of the bigger questions floating around the technology and politics world at the moment. The subject: the future of the Republican Party. Does the redemption of the GOP rest with mastering the field, communications, and fundraising technologies that Barack Obama used to good effect in his presidential win? Or do conservatives need to take this moment, when they control not one of the branches of government, to re-figure out just what it is the party stands for, what political need it fills in the hearts and minds of American voters? The real answer, of course, isn't one or the other -- not wholeheartedly, at least. But implicit in the question is a compelling debate over just what technology is good for when it comes to politics, from winning elections to governing in a way that gives you a shot at getting re-elected.

The half dozen contenders for the post of RNC chairman gathered yesterday for an event that was threaded through with what might fairly be called an obsession with technology...When we discussed a report in the New York Times yesterday that Barack Obama would finally (cue whiny voice) be naming a Chief Technology Officer this Wednesday, we commented, "we'll see." Well, looks like we won't...The Obama transition has gone down a somewhat different road than Bill Clinton in revealing its donors -- though, of course, the motivations and expectations are entirely different...and more.

With the American economy showing about as much useful forward momentum as as a stripped-down Chevy up on cinder blocks in the front yard, people are naturally starting to get a bit curious as to whether the $700 billion Congress put to bailing out banks' troubled assets was a smart use of the peoples' dollars. Elizabeth Warren is wondering that too. Warren, a professor at Harvard Law, was Harry Reid's appointment to the Congressional Oversight Panel that was created under the same Emergency Economic Stabilization Act that launched the TARP program. "It's tough out there and it's scary, and frankly I'm worried," she admits in a recent YouTube video -- which is either endearingly forthright or downright terrifying, depending on how you look at it.

As the battle for the RNC Chairman gig heats up, Americans for Tax Reform is hosting a debate among the half dozen candidates vying for the job. The debate is happening now at http://rncdebate.org/. The live webcast by ATR is a step in the right direction for the GOP.

It's not specifically a tech-politics related event, but it's good to see the right opening up and broadcasting the debate publicly. ATR also opened up the discussion to the public and took questions online.

I'll recap the event afterward with thoughts. (UPDATED)

With the 111th session of Congress kicking off tomorrow and a mere 15 days until President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office, getting his desired $700 billion (or so) stimulus package signed, sealed, and delivered before inauguration day would take a feat of super-human legislating. What could complicate that goal: a proposal promoted by top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell to put the stimulus plan online for a full week...Is it our turn yet? Pressure is building for Obama to finally name a Chief Technology Officer, the nation's first...The first round of Change.org's Ideas for Change in America contest, to which techPresident is a partner, has wrapped...and a good deal more.

We're still days into 2009, and now is the time to prepare for the epic interplay between tech and politics in the 2012 presidential cycle.

The inauguration arm of the Obama transition is organizing a "national day of service" on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend -- itself established as a time to contribute a little something extra to the world around you -- and in it, they're building the architecture for a continuing service corps beyond inauguration weekend. The project echoes the campaign: the inspiration and equipment coming from the top, with the fleshing out of events and projects bubbling from the bottom up.

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.

Micah and I were just playing around with some TubeMogul video-traffic charts for the YouTube channel of the transition team -- which includes not only the weekly video "fireside chats" that Obama has been filming weekly but other video content from inside the transition -- and found two things. First, the overall viewership of the channel has gone off a cliff since its launch, with particularly severe catering since the second week in December. And the second, well, read on.