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"Are you a Silicon Valley executive or data analyst with a conservative political bent? Then the Republican Party has a job for you: Chief Technology Officer.\nThe GOP announced Tuesday that it's hiring a CTO who, along with a new Digital Officer, will be responsible for integrating digital, technology and data teams across the Republican Party, training Republicans on digital and technology strategy, building relationships with technology communities across the country and developing new technology to help Republican candidates win in the upcoming midterm elections.\n\"This is a major change in how party committees operate,\" Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, told the New York Times, adding that the ideal candidate could be \"an outsider and is maybe able to come in and change the way that we think.\u201D\n\u201CWe\u2019re committed to doing what no other party committee has done by restructuring our data and digital teams to be the central focus of the RNC and integrated into everything we do,\u201D said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus in a statement reported by Time. \u201CWe need to change how we are communicating with every community across America and this is a big step in that direction.\u201D\nThe Republican's search for a CTO and digital restructuring comes months after some observers argued the Obama campaign's digital and technological prowess contributed to its victory over the Romney camp. The Obama campaign hired its first Chief Technology Officer in 2011 \u2014 Harper Reed, an inventive technologist who was formerly CTO of Threadless and was an usual pick for a political campaign.\nSEE ALSO: 4 Reasons Why Obama's Digital Effort Was a Success\n\nJudging by Kukowski's statements, it seems the Republicans are looking to follow the Obama campaign's lead by searching for an outsider to the world of politics to inject fresh ideas for its planned technological rejuvenation. The closest the Romney campaign had to a CTO was Digital Director Zac Moffatt, who came from the world of political digital advertising. Moffatt was heavily criticized by fellow Republicans after Romney's loss, but he has argued his team made significant advancements considering its comparative manpower disadvantage and time constraints, among other factors.\nHow can the Republican Party better use digital tools and technology? Share your thoughts in the comments.\nImage via iStockphoto, franckreporter"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/03/12/republican-chief-technology-officer/>