While you were enjoying  the holidays with loved ones and family, and Rush Limbaugh was getting glassed with a roomful of under-aged Hawaiian boys, Red State’s Erick Ericksonof Hickory Holler’s Tramp was busy becoming the almost Boss of Conservative Everyone.

According to David Weigel, Erick is the ninth most important Conservative to watch this year right between a foreign exotic, therefore non-American person, and that   cereal box guy .

But don’t take Dave Weigel’s word for it. Erickson is now bad, he’s nationwide:

Erickson, editor in chief of the RedState.com blog, is emerging as one of the most important and prescient new voices and opinion-shapers in the Republican Party. And he is an increasingly influential headache for party leaders seen as straying from conservative principles.

“He knows everybody,” said an admiring Tucker Carlson, the Fox News commentator who is about to unveil his own conservative site, DailyCaller.com. “If you measure influence by the amount of damage he can do, he has a lot.”

You know, you have to get up pret-ty early in the morning to impress Tucker Carlson. No. No you don’t. Just kidding. Carlson’s just a douche bag trying to get his future fail blog noticed:….

Pity the party leaders Erickson thinks are selling out conservatism, because they can quickly become a target among grass roots activists, and conservative giants like Rush Limbaugh, who often cites Erickson’s posts on his radio show. RedState can mobilize activists to overwhelm congressional phone lines or — in the case of Charlie Crist — help drive mainstream media coverage about endangered centrist Republicans.

Yeah. Pity the foo’s! One day they’re just debatin’ and legislatin’ and the next thing they know they’ve got a heapin’ helpin’ of rubber balls, Silly Putty, and rock salt cluttering up their anterooms like so many horse heads. And who can ever forget that time he kicked Dede Scozzafava’s ass and handed her seat to Doug Hoffman. Almost. But not really. Actually, not.

Republicans for years have lamented how Democrats have been more effective at organizing and raising money online, and RedState was created in 2004 as an answer to the popular liberal site Daily Kos.

Which led to Tragic, The Gathering which is just like Yearly Kos/Netroots Nation except, to use an old expression:  it looks like a penis, only smaller.

But never mind that because Erick has hit the BIG TIME:

These days, though, Erickson receives a lot more attention for the ripples he causes in the national political scene than around Macon. He’s scheduled to appear tonight on The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. It’s a pretty heady time.

It would be awesome if he issued another fatwa on Comedy Central.

Man meets métier.