In case you missed it, last night Rudy Giuliani made a virtual appearance in over 1,000 homes during his "National House Party Night." (You can watch the archived webcast here.)

To be exact, according to the Giuliani campaign, 1,036 house party hosts in all 50 states (and in London) logged in to the webcast to hear what Rudy Giuliani had to say. To put this in to perspective, rival Fred Thompson earlier this month held a conference call where, "Hundreds of house parties were held in more than 40 states...where Thompson supporters could gather to listen to a conference call update of Thompson's first official day of campaigning." Bill Hobbs reported the exact number of house parties at 220.

In an email thanking hosts who participated in Rudy's big event, Giuliani campaign manager Michael DuHaime wrote [excerpt of email]:

Last night supporters across the country attended parties to show their support for Mayor Giuliani. The event was a resounding success and I want to thank you for hosting a House Party for Rudy. We could never have done it without you. Your party helped demonstrate to America that Rudy's grass-roots support is shared all over America and that he is the only candidate who can beat the Democrats in November 2008.

Last night the amount of support we saw for Rudy from all over the nation was overwhelming. Hall of Fame baseball player Yogi Berra introduced Rudy and comedian Dennis Miller kicked things off by asking the first question.

So what did a house party look like?

I contacted a host of one of the parties, Matthew Haller, who hosted his party on a rooftop deck overlooking historic downtown Washington who said, "Our House Party for Rudy was a great success because it allowed us to gather with our friends and colleagues and share why we are supporting the Mayor for President. We had a good mix of young professionals, Hill staff and students attend our party and we definitely grew Rudy’s base of support. We all enjoyed Mayor Giuliani’s live webcast that allowed him to speak to his supporters around the nation about why his strong leadership and bold vision is right for our country."

Though the host didn't say it explicitly, by identifying young, (likely new) low-dollar donors to support Giuliani through this event, the host has played a major role in helping Rudy Giuliani tap the "Long Tail of politics" which I write about extensively. Earlier this week, the Politico's Jeanne Cummings had an excellent article which reinforces the importance of people like Haller who are "baby bundlers" of low-dollar donors.

So what lessons can be learned from Rudy's success?

First and foremost, energizing your supporters to "do something" works. Second, live webcasts appear more appealing than conference calls. Third, it never hurts to have celebrities like Yogi Berra and Dennis Miller help lend their support.

And finally, in my humble opinion, this is yet another example of how a campaign can properly tap the "Long Tail" to help generate new support.

[Cross-posted with a side of dijon at TechRepublican.]