Early this morning, the Republican Leadership Conference and Detroit News announced the results of its much anticipated straw poll and declared that Rick Snyder had won, defeating his closest opponent by over 80 votes. Rick issued the following statement in response to his victory:

“I am greatly encouraged by the support I received from Republican activists in the straw poll this weekend. Our organizational strength has defied expectations and the results demonstrate that Republican voters are more interested in reinventing Michigan and fresh leadership than the status quo that career politicians are offering,” said Snyder. “Not only did we mobilize voters, but we successfully employed innovative technology to track and empower our supporters . We’re also recruiting hundreds of citizens who are tired of the lack of leadership in Michigan to run for office in our Run with Rick program. This is a great stride forward for our campaign and I am determined more than ever to build on this momentum as we continue to get our message out, grow the Reinvent Michigan Team and charge towards victory. I intend to win this election.”

Rick’s win is a culmination of growing momentum in grassroots support and a first-in-the-nation innovative Get Out The Vote (GOTV) effort. Yesterday, the Reinvent Michigan Team announced the deployment of cutting-edge technology for tracking and managing campaign volunteers. This first-in-the-nation technology, dubbed Rick’s Innovation Network, has been successfully rolled out at the 2009 Republican Leadership Conference in Mackinac Island and used in the Snyder at Mackinac Challenge.

The system, developed under the guidance of political strategists John Weaver and John Yob, uses leading edge smartphone and iPhone technologies to track volunteers as they attend various events and perform various tasks. Volunteers’ performance is tracked using a rewards system and a leaderboard displays top performers.

“We are proud to have introduced new technology into our campaign and the political process as a whole. This cutting-edge system will allow our campaign to empower and mobilize supporters and volunteers across the state as we inspire a movement, not just a political campaign, to reinvent Michigan. Rick’s Innovation Network is an illustration of how rather than talking about Michigan innovation, my campaign is actually going to make it a reality. The program is going to be an integral part of our campaign and help carry us to victory”, said Rick Snyder at the Republican Leadership Conference.

Rick’s Innovation Network was proudly developed in Michigan and is exclusive to the Rick for Michigan campaign.

Rick Snyder also held a media availability on Mackinac Island to officially kick off a statewide program to empower Michiganders to help the Reinvent Michigan Team bring new leadership to state government entitled “Run With Rick” and announce that he has already signed over 100 citizens to the program.

Through this program, the Reinvent Michigan Team is recruiting and asking committed citizens to step up to the plate and ‘Run with Rick‘ to help Reinvent Michigan and usher in the Era of Innovation.

“We clearly have a lack of leadership and broken government in Lansing. As they’ve shown with the disastrous budget process, the Governor and career politicians are failing the citizens of this state. It is clear that the solutions to our challenges are not going to come from professional politicians, but from engaged citizens. It is critical that we build new leadership at all levels of Michigan’s government and this program is an innovative way to empower ordinary citizens to step up and take back their state from special interests and professional politicians,” said Rick Snyder at the GOP leadership conference in Mackinac Island.

Run with Rick is recruiting candidates across the state to run for Precinct Delegate, State Representative, and State Senate who pledge to adhere to the team culture, ethics and believe in Rick’s vision and Top 10 principles. The program is aimed at changing the culture in Michigan and in order to do that the state needs to dramatically change the leadership. The campaign is recruiting additional Precinct Delegates to grow and strengthen the party and new State Representatives and Senators who will help Rick usher change in the Era of Innovation.