WomenCount came up with the idea for a new presidential commission late last year, and Rep. Speier saw our e-mail and decided to pursue the idea as legislation in the House, since she had developed a countywide commission in the early eighties in California.  The commission will differ from the new White House Council on Women and Girls in that it will be bipartisan, external, and it will provide an independent look at the lives of women in America through transparent grassroots methods.

On Sunday night’s twittercast, we’ll be asking the question: what do you want a presidential commission to do? Take a look at the text of the legislation and offer your suggestions. We’ll summarize the responses and submit them to WomenCount and Rep. Speier’s office.  

Look for tweets from @fem2pt0 as always, but also from @womencount, @sairy and @digitalsista on the #fem2 hashtag, Sunday evening at 7pm PT/10pm ET.

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Sarah Granger, @sairy, is a communications, technology and new media expert as well as a writer, editor, blogger, and public speaker. See her extended bio and website here.

Also joining us Sunday is Shireen Mitchell, @digitalsista, the founder and Executive Director of Digital Sisters/Sistas, Inc., a non-profit organization focused on using digital media and technology to access self-sufficiency tools for women and children who are traditionally underserved.

See you Sunday night for the Fem2.0 Twittercast!

As we move toward more models of small donors and mass collaboration in campaigns and governance, we need a new framework that encompasses both the top-down and the bottom-up, as we saw with the Obama campaign and my.barackobama.com. It’s not just about message control; it’s about embracing constituents and energizing voters. And it’s about reaching out online and pounding the pavement offline.

I’ve worked with women candidates and women’s political organizations now at local, statewide and national levels, and I’ve noticed a pervasive fear of moving online. What we need to communicate is that we’re not giving up on the tried and true fundraising schemas of major donors or message-driven content. We’re augmenting that by reaching out to younger generations and new constituent groups who want to be engaged but are more comfortable doing so via laptop or cell phone than at hand-shaking events.

Every campaign is different, as is every candidate, and with geography always a key factor in elections not all locales are ready for massive social networking endeavors. However, not taking advantage of the benefits of e-mail, websites, blogs, online invitation systems, Facebook and other existing tools of the web automatically puts candidates at a disadvantage.

Women candidates and organizations supporting women candidates need to understand that this is only the beginning of the Internet’s role in the political process. 2008 signaled a shift in how campaigning will work in the future. Politics 2.0 entails realizing that in future campaigns, the winners online will more often be the winners overall. As community activists, volunteers, supporters and participants in this process, we must encourage and assist women who run in every aspect we can if we are ever to shatter the glass ceiling and achieve equal representation in our government.

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Sarah Granger directed Internet strategy and operations in Gary Hart’s 2004 presidential exploratory committee, launching the first blog by a politician. She’s Managing Director of FutureCampaigns and a Contributing Editor for techPresident and MOMocrats.