Newt Gingrich’s think tank sent out a press release about its decision to open a Silicon Valley office that cites this bit of evidence of their techno-savviness:

An example of American Solutions’ dedication to using new technology occurred when Newt Gingrich made an appearance in the virtual world of Second Life for a Solutions Day workshop on September 27, 2007.

If you haven’t seen it, the video of the “appearance” is one of the most surreal things I’ve ever seen (skip to about 1:15 in the video) — Newt flies in and rambles on about technology in front of a crowd of about fifty wacky-looking avatars:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote this about the appearance:

Gingrich’s “American Solutions” project is a collection of workshops… designed to look at the nation’s problems through the lens of new technology.

The most radical example was a question-and-answer session that Gingrich hosted in “Second Life,” an on-line realm in which large numbers of people — using 3-D characters — interact with each other.

The “metaverse” is an important way to create new kinds of classrooms with participants from all over the world, Gingrich said. “This is the new technology of the 21st century,” he said.

There were some bugs. The comments of cyber-hecklers had to be removed. And upon arriving in a digital amphitheater, Gingrich’s figure was immediately approached by a lovely young digital lady, who arrived moments before her clothes did.