On Tuesday, I had the chance to chat briefly with Liz Mair, the RNC’s online communications director in the party’s eCampaign division. 

Mair writes for the RNC’s official blog and is tasked with reaching out to the blogosphere. In other words, she’s fighting the perception of a GOP out of touch with the youth vote.

“I think bloggers are very much people … who do networking and communicating amongst themselves,” she said, who relies on her contacts from her own time as a blogger and columnist for publications such as the Seattle P-I and The American Spectator. 

“We see bloggers as integral” to getting the party’s message out, she said. 

“When you’re looking at people who are roughly in the 20-30-years-old age group … they get their news from TV and Internet … blogger outreach, being an important part of that.”

But getting the GOP’s word out means more than blogger-talk. 

“The thing we’re always quick to underline is that John McCain is keen to reach out to people who may not be typical Republican voters,” she said, emphasizing McCain’s policy positions on issues such as health care and the environment. 

She said that these topics will appeal to Washingtonians, and McCain knows this. 

“I think it’s fair to say that Washington state will be in play,” she said. As noted earlier, McCain will be coming to town soon, followed by a variety of surrogates such as Carly Fiorino. 

And in an election where every state will be count, these types of visits by both nominees will grow in importance.