Chapman says his boss is now one of the premier conservative leaders in the country. “He’s in a position now to aggressively advance the conservative agenda,” he says. DeMint is counting on Chapman to help make the New Media an even more powerful tool in the promotion of that agenda. He could not have picked a more capable new staffer.

Chapman is universally well-respected in the right-of-center blogosphere. While at the Heritage Foundation, where he served as Director of the Center for Media and Public Policy, Chapman co-hosted with Robert Bluey of Human Events a Bloggers Briefing over lunch every Tuesday. This experience earned him a ready stable of New Media contacts through which he can promote DeMint’s disciplined conservative message.

Chapman believes the U.S. Senate is the only venue for conservatives to take a stand in the 110^th Congress. “Conservatives in the House will be able to make some noise but conservatives in the Senate will actually be able to fight for good legislation,” he says.

Like Henke, Chapman sees the New Media as a weapon for conservatives on Capitol Hill to circumvent the MSM when necessary. By communicating with bloggers—many of who consider themselves “citizen journalists”—Chapman believes he’ll be able to drive stories the MSM normally ignores and even correct misapprehensions the MSM uncritically amplify with vexing regularity.

Both Henke and Chapman command respect from the left side of the blogosphere. Speaking on background, several left-of-center bloggers spoke highly of them and credited McConnell and DeMint for ramping up their New Media capabilities. Both are likely to curtail their own blogging as they concentrate on serving their respective new bosses.