Reply With QuoteVery good pick.
Mike Steel is new RNC chairmen
I would say this is a really good move on there side. But what the RNC has to do it is to get this guy out there (in the media) and really make him known, I listen to him speak before and he has a good way of connecting with people and making sence.
What are other peoples thoiughts on him or my 2 cents?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090130/...republicans_39
WASHINGTON – The Republican National Committee has elected former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele the first black Republican National Committee chairman.
Steele was the most moderate candidate in the field and was considered an outsider because he's not an RNC member. He beat back four challengers, including incumbent Mike Duncan, who was forced to withdraw from the field midway through the balloting in the face of a lack of support.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Republicans fought for the national party chairmanship Friday after Mike Duncan, former President George W. Bush's hand-picked GOP chief, abandoned his re-election bid in the face of dwindling support.
"Obviously the winds of change are blowing," Duncan said as he withdrew to a standing ovation midway through the afternoon voting.
His departure ensures a fresh presence at the beleaguered GOP's helm as Republicans seek to rebound from back-to-back defeats in national elections that gave Democrats control of Congress and the White House.
After five rounds of balloting, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and South Carolina GOP chief Katon Dawson were locked in a close race to reach the 85-vote majority needed to assume the party's top spot. Steele was six votes shy with 79, while Dawson had 69.
They were going head-to-head in what is likely to be the last voting round, the sixth, and both were hoping to pick up some of the 20 votes Michigan state party chairman Saul Anuzis got before he exited the field.
"You've got two great people still running and I wish them the best of luck," Anuzis said. Neither he nor Duncan publicly endorsed a candidate, though former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell threw his "fullest support" behind Steele when he dropped out.
"I believe that the next chairman must inspire hope," Blackwell said.
Steele, the most moderate candidate in the field, would become the party's first black chairman and is considered an outsider because he's not an RNC member. Dawson, as a state party chairman, is a member; he's a staunch Southern conservative.
One of them will inherit a party trying to recover after crushing defeats in two straight national elections and seeking to take on an empowered Democratic Party under President Barack Obama in midterm elections next fall and beyond.
Despite the run of GOP losses, Duncan had argued that he should be re-elected because of his experience; his five challengers called for change and said they represented it.
The results of the first three rounds boded poorly for Duncan; he lost votes at every turn while Steele and Dawson gained. Anuzis and Blackwell were never a threat. But, taken together and from the start of the voting, the majority of the RNC cast votes that indicated members wanted a new direction under a fresh leader, rather than a chairman who is linked to the unpopular former president.
As he left the race, Duncan thanked Bush and said of his two-year tenure: "It truly has been the highlight of my life."
Another candidate, former Tennessee GOP Chairman Chip Saltsman, withdrew from the race on the eve of voting and with no explanation, saying only in a letter to RNC members, "I have decided to withdraw my candidacy."
Saltsman, who ran former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's failed presidential campaign last year, was considered a long-shot candidate who several Republican officials said likely wouldn't have had enough support even to be formally nominated had he continued his bid.
It faltered in December after he drew controversy for mailing to committee members a 41-track CD that included a song titled "Barack the Magic Negro" by conservative comedian Paul Shanklin and sung to the music of "Puff, the Magic Dragon."
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On the Net: Republican National Committee: http://www.rnc.org
Very good pick.
The key is getting him out there and talking
He's got a suitably macho-sounding name for a Republican too. Did this guy used to be an 80's B-movie actor or a ****-star?
^ What he said..."Ken Blackwell threw his "fullest support" behind Steele"...
No, he's a conservative, self-made, African American. Which in Democrat-speak means he's either "not black enough" or is unqualified based on a paper he wrote in the fourth grade where he might have implied that he wasn't fully behind Roe v. Wade. (Of course, if you're a Democrat you can be an ex-Klansman or a drunk-driver guilty of manslaughter and still serve in the Senate.)Originally Posted by budgie
A **** star then?
BINGO!! Couldnt have said it better myself.
You hit the nail on the head!
Was an awesome pick. Unfortunately already there have been a few snags.
Timing is a bit off. Already, many Dems have started labelling him as the token black republican (or the "wannabe Obama") despite his superior creditials. They'll be trying to pigeon hole him as such in a hard way from here on out.
Until the GOP holds one of the houses again they the Dems will likely largely ignore him.
I'm sure this has nothing to do with having a half black president.
I voted for Ken Blackwell for Gov of Ohio, shame, we got Strickland instead.
As far as him appealing to Black voters, I doubt it, there was a girl at work that said she hated Ken Blackwell, I guess in her eyes he is an Uncle Tom.
It's a shame she never got on the Black GOP website. MLKjr was a Republican.
NationalBlackRepublicans
As you're not a Septic, I guess you're just fanning the flames?
Never heard of him. I'll give him a chance, even though the timing makes the Republicans look a bit stupid and reactive.
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