Bill Frist Aide to Lead Mitt Romney's Online Team

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a likely ’08 presidential candidate, has hired Stephen Smith to lead his online communications team. Smith most recently worked for Sen. Bill Frist at VOLPAC, where he oversaw the website and handled outreach to bloggers.

The tech-savvy Smith joins two other highly respected Republicans who recently signed on with Romney. Former RNC Research Director Matt Rhoades and Kevin Madden, who served as House Majority Leader John Boehner’s spokesman, form the nucleus of Romney’s likely campaign team.

A source with knowledge of Smith’s hiring said Smith will play a key role in the design of a campaign website, should Romney decided to run. Romney is spending the holidays with his family in Utah and plans to make a decision shortly thereafter.

At VOLPAC, Smith was responsible for coordinating Frist’s interaction with bloggers, which included several one-on-one interviews, conference calls and a group meeting with bloggers that took place in the majority leader’s office. Smith was also responsible for several activism projects on VOLPAC’s site, such as Blogging for Bolton. He advised Frist to endorse Rightroots, the online grassroots fundraising effort that raised nearly $300,000 for conservative candidates.

Read the full story at Human Events.

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