On Tuesday Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin’s campaign rolled out a new re-election website fit for the 21st century campaign environment at TomHarkin.com.

Included on the site include numerous links to social networking utilities like YouTube, Facebook and MySpace as well as newer features like Veoh and Eventful.

On a conference call with bloggers yesterday Harkin spoke about his new website and his goals for the 2008 campaign.  Harkin was joined on the call by Ryan Alexander, campaign blogger and online strategist.

Harkin said the website relaunch, including a new campaign blog and the social networking features, was part of his natural campaign approach.

“This is a valuable medium that I want to get really involved in,” he said.  “I believe in grassroots politics, I always have.  To me, doing this is about as bottom up as you can get.”

Alexander added, “From our campaign events, to our online fundraising on ActBlue, to our campaign blog, the new TomHarkin.com is focused making Iowans an active participant in our collective campaign to move Iowa and America forward.”

During Harkin’s last re-election campaign in 2002 there wasn’t an Iowa blogosphere to lean on for support or to campaign with.  But the elections of 2004 and 2006 have prompted most campaigns to overhaul their sites and begin working with Web 2.0 applications.

“The first time I ever blogged my steak fry was with Howard Dean in 2003,” said Harkin. “I thought ‘Hey, that was a pretty good idea.’”

The campaign is also using progressive funding intermediary ActBlue to conduct online fundraising for the campaign.  ActBlue allows users to contribute online and then cuts checks to each campaign that is listed on their site.  It also allows individuals to create their own fundraising pages and invite their friends to give and raise money for Harkin and other Democratic candidates as well.

Harkin said that by using ActBlue he was hearkening back to when he first started campaigning for office in the 1970s via house parties and other fundraising mediums that focused on progressive activists and their friends.

Expanding into social networking sites also fits in to the campaign’s strategy of reaching out to progressives across Iowa as well as across the country.

“We are reaching out to users on social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace because they have been proven to be effective tools in facilitating a two-way and multidimensional conversation with voters, particularly younger voters, in an environment that is comfortable to them,” Alexander said.

Harkin added, “We don’t have a concentrated population, and in the areas with a few progressives, this is a way to reach out to them. They’re some of your best progressives out in those areas.”

Harkin has yet to line up a strong challenger in 2008.  So far only Cedar Rapids businessman Steve Rathje has declared candidacy against Harkin.  However Reps. Steve King and Tom Latham, both of Iowa, have been pondering a challenge.

“I’m approaching web strategy just like the rest of my campaign,” Harkin said.  “I’m going to campaign like I’m the Republicans’ top target, which I usually am.”

Harkin is also calling on bloggers to put the pressure on Senate Republican defectors of President Bush’s Iraq strategy.

“You’ve got to hold their feet to the fire,” he said.  Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa has more here.