4:58 pm - "I think transparency is one of the best issues we have," he said when asking about how Republicans can make this an effective issue. Anuzis says this is a winning issue.

4:57 pm - "I think the presidential election for 2012 has started, and that hurts us," said Anuzis. "We have to worry about 2010." Anuzis has worked on proposals to reform the presidential primary process - including a bi-partisan proposal with Debbie Dingell of the Michigan Democratic Party. Anuzis would like to see a proposal that includes more of the country participating in the process.

4:54 pm - Some of the country's top bloggers were on this call - listening, asking questions and finding out about Michigan's chairman.

4:51 pm - Blogs have "democratized access" to grassroots activists to find out what's happening in party politics, Anuzis says. The state GOP chairman emphasizes his popular daily e-mail goes to 4,000 individuals each morning.

4:50 pm - Fund-raising is important and the party must use the new technologies to improve fund-raising. "We have a very large e-mail list that we e-mail on a regular basis," Anuzis said. He noted the Michigan Republican Party has over 100,000 addresses on its e-mail list.

4:47 pm - It's time to rebuild the brand and play with a new playbook. "This isn't the 1980s," he said.

4:46 pm - I just asked a question about modernizing the party and going after regions that the GOP has ceded to the Democrats. "We cannot write off any part of this country," he said. "In every single state, we have an opportunity and should be competitive."

4:45 pm - On standing up to the GOP on spending: Anuzis points to his record standing up to last year's $1.4 billion tax increase in Michigan.

4:43 pm - Anuzis: "I come from a blue-collar background" and relate to a lot of Republican voters.

4:42 pm - "Michael Steele ... is a great asset to this country and Republicans and conservatives," Anuzis said. "We have to elect a chairman of the Republican National Committee that is going to have a different perspective." Anuzis believes there needs to be a chairman from outside Washington.

4:41 pm - Question time. Amanda Carpenter gets the first one.

4:40 pm - Republicans can't violate their own principles and expect to have a Republican majority, he says.

4:39 pm - "I don't think we are in as bad as shape as many people think we are," Anuzis said, noting we have to stick to our principles ahead of the 2010 and 2012 elections.

4:38 pm - Anuzis is in Miami, Florida, for the Republican Governors Association meeting before making stops in other southern destinations over the coming days. Republicans need to understand where they made mistakes and "prepare to move forward," he said. "Republicans do better when they run against Washington."

4:37 pm -- Another push will be bettering the farm team of young, up-and-coming politicians around the country, who can "go back and articulate" a conservative message to voters.

4:36 pm - Anuzis says Republicans have to take a look at what Democrats did under Howard Dean -- namely preparing an infrastructure to compete in all 50 states. "We have some state parties that are virtually nonexistent," he said.  

4:34 pm - "I'm a regular Twitter user," he said. Anuzis notes that he has recruited over 2,000 people to participate in Michigan Republican politics through Facebook. "We need to make the Republican National Committee more inclusive," he said.

4:33 pm - Anuzis welcomes bloggers and citizen journalists to a conference calls. "As you are all aware, I announced my candidacy for chairman of the Republican National Committee." He announced it first on Twitter, followed by e-mail and Facebook -- signaling that his campaign will emphasize grassroots outreach and new media.