I may not agree with all of his communications tactics, but there's something to be said about Mitt Romney's rise to the top of GOP Bloggers monthly straw poll. After a third-place finish in December, Romney won the January poll with 27.6% of the vote.

Stephen Smith, Romney's director of online communications, highlighted the results today in an e-mail to bloggers:

The results are in! Governor Romney wins the January edition of the GOP Bloggers straw poll, in terms of “first choice” and of “candidate acceptability.”

Other interesting points from the crosstabs:

• Governor Romney leads “first choice” at all levels of vote certainty;
• Governor Romney leads “first choice” at all levels of blog readership;
• Governor Romney comes in the top three in “first choice” and “candidacy acceptability” at each of the top eight participating blogs.

While Romney appears to be making strides -- although 27.6% isn't anywhere near a majority -- Sen. John McCain is losing ground. Romney's decision to invest heavily in his online operation should send McCain a message: It's time to overhaul the black-and-white website with something more substantive and hire a full-time person to deal with bloggers.