Today, on the Ed Morrissey Show (3 pm ET), Virginia Thomas joins us to talk about her new position at Hillsdale College. Mrs. Thomas will leave her position at Heritage Foundation to launch the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. for Hillsdale. We’ll talk about its mission and Virginia’s plans for the future of conservative thought.

In the second half, Erick Erickson joins us to talk about the future of Republican leadership. We’ll also discuss the strange smears circulating about Sarah Palin, and debate how the GOP has to reorganize in order to compete in 2010 and beyond.

Now you can join the conversation in the chat room! Be sure to register at Ustream to participate in our raucous live-chat sessions. (And if the log-in prompt doesn’t come up in the chat box below, use this link instead.) Jazz Shaw of The Moderate Voice moderates the chat, and he has his Troll Gun Trivia Contest running before the show, for those who get there early — and are registered!

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Opening animation from TG Studios.