Friday, January 30, 2009

Opinion: Who should the new GOP Chair be and what should his focus be?

GOP insiders say Friday’s contest to elect the next chairman of the Republican National Committee will be a long and drawn-out affair, with multiple ballots necessary to determine the winner.

In part, it’s a reflection of a party that, even after a nearly three month-long chairman’s race, remains deeply uncertain of which candidate can best lead the GOP back to power.

Linda Ackerman, the Republican committeewoman for California, said Wednesday that she was waiting to see the candidates interact with each other at the RNC meeting at Washington Capital Hilton hotel before making up her mind.

“They’re all saying pretty much the same thing. They’re all saying what we want to do for the party. They all have a little different twist, but they all know what we want,” Ackerman said. “Other than that, I just want to get a sense, a personal sense, of who would be the best one to lead.”

The RNC’s voting rules require a candidate to collect a simple majority of 85 votes in order to claim victory. In the absence of a consensus choice among the field of five candidates, though, the election appears destined for numerous ballots, involving many hours of deliberations punctuated by intense lobbying and political horse-trading between votes.

Public estimates of the five candidates’ support have tended to place incumbent RNC Chairman Mike Duncan at the head of the pack, followed by former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson, with Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell behind them.

This story continues at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18188.html

11 comments:

Alli B said...

I am happy with Michael Steele being selected as the new chairman for the GOP. I think it will be good for the party to have someone that is not just a typical Republican. It's good that he is open to a liberal perspective on certain issues, and he should be able to lead the party in a new direction.

Addie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Addie said...

Pretty sure I looked up all the candidates and picked my favorites and I thought Michael Duncan would win for sure, even though he hasn't been active in his current positions of power.

And then I saw Alli's comment.

Oops.

mlowe1191 said...

Humm...im un sure of what i think....i must do more reasearch on him...ill keep u posted

ryanh said...

I think that Michael Steele is a good choice. He is very energetic and enthusiastic about his job which seems to have been lacking from the Republican party throughout this entire election. This will help to attract youth towards the Republican party and in the long run possibly help them win in 2012.

Jessie R said...

I think that the new GOP chair should focus on reuniting the party, and trying to get more seats in the senate or possibly a new president in 2012. I think senate seats would probably be a better aim.

Sergeant K. said...

I haven't really heard a whole lot about Michael Steele. If things go south, hey I didn't vote for him. On the brightside I am happy to hear that our dearly beloved Blago has finally gotten the boot from office. To be honest, I don't exactly feel safer with his lieutenant governor but hey, Blago's out...

-Erik K.

mevanoff said...

According to what I have seen and what I have read about Michale Steele, I believe that he is not a good choice for this position. If he has some Liberal ideology, how will he unite the party? he will just keep driving conservatives farther away and that will diminish the number of supporters that the Republican party has. If anybody thinks that Obama is "uniting" the country by having Republicans in his cabinet, and everyone thinks that the GOP should do the same, that is beyond me. The two-party system has been put into place because of differences and if Republicans just merge Democratic views into the Chair, the "Republicans" will just be turning more and more Democratic as time goes on.

JakeK said...

I don't know. This is a toughy. I am very familiar with Mike Duncan as I often read his newsletters in e-mail from the Republican National Committee, and I was especially impressed with the way he expressed a clear conservative ideology and an unrelenting support of president Bush, which was the topic of his latest e-mail. At the same time, I have also heard Michael Steele talk and his passion is much needed in our party. I'm gonna go with Duncan, but I would have no problem with Steele.

Anonymous said...

I just thought that this should be noted. Kind of thing I like to see. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/us/politics/05pay.html?_r=1&hp

Ryan K said...

Thank you for the article RyanO. I know that the economic plan it talks about has been passed and will be outlined by the Treasury Secretary on Monday. I am interested to see exactly what it will do, especially with the government buying bad bank assets. The only thing I fear is it wounds a little like socialism, (cough cough), but then again maybe that’s what we need right now.