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AmSpecBlog
It Won't Be Steele
After speaking with people involved with the RNC Chairman race, it's becoming clear that the contours of the race have to do with two things: Is the candidate a conservative, and is the candidate willing to do the work. But there's also a third point: Is the candidate a committeeman in the RNC?
Michael Steele has problems here. For one thing, he's not a committeeman. Another, he didn't even want to run as a real Republican in his Maryland race. And lastly, his work at GOPAC has been lackluster (as Quin has said).
According to my sources (and I'll be updating this post continually as I get more) Fred Thompson is in talks with Chuck Yob, a party veteran. Thompson would play the role of General Chair (the role that typically serves as figurehead), and Yob would be the RNC Chair, taking on the administrative tasks and the day-to-day operations of recruiting candidates.
Thompson plays well in the south, and would get a lot of support from what would otherwise be South Carolina RNC chair Katon Dawson's backyard. It would also allow a better-known voice to speak for the party.
UPDATE:
Roger Villere, chairman of Louisiana's GOP, tells me that the only reason Newt and Steele appear to be frontrunners are that they have good public relations people and they have big names. But among committee members, that's hardly a qualification.
"A lot of RNC members have been left out. A lot of people don't feel like they've been used. Or even taken seriously. That's one of the problems we've had with the RNC. They need more input from the state chairman."
Asked about the rumors regarding Thompson and Yob, Villere's interest was clearly piqued. "For me that's very intriguing. You'd have somebody with committee experience -- Chuck's been with us more than 20 years. He's gone around the country and reached out to us. Then you have somebody who's like Fred Thompson who's a good spokesman, and he does a great job on TV."
He hasn't talked to Thompson personally, but thinks it would be a very "interesting" arrangement. The fact that a southern Republican chairman like Villere seemed so enthusiastic about such a prospect is informative, particularly considering that this is Katon Dawson's backyard. This doesn't necessarily speak to a lack of support for Dawson, but it does show that he doesn't have it in the bag.
UPDATE 2 (2:29):
Saul Anuzis's website announcing his bid for campaign chair is here. Leveraging the Internet, ESPECIALLY web 2.0 apps is a step in the right direction. This is a defining area for the RNC chair, because it reflects the attention to lessons learned from Obama. Other potential candidates would be wise to follow his lead. Though Thompson is arguably the first one to do it (if he actually announces his bid) -- he announced his presidential campaign on the web.
UPDATE 3 (2:55):
I've obtained a copy of an invitation to a meeting hosted by Dawson in South Carolina. Needless to say, despite having not properly announced his candidacy, he certainly is lining up the ducks.
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Captain America| 11.12.08 @ 2:05PM
I don't know Mr. Yob but Fred would carry acclaim to the position that he has earned over the years if not decades. Fred is a rock rib conservative who brings instant credibility. And he can stand up to anybody including "no hand shows."
One possible drawback though is the poorly executed campaign strategy Fred had when running in the presidential primaries. My hope is that someone like Mr. Yob could be more an powerful implementer and tactician, while Fred is the man/person out front.
J David| 11.12.08 @ 2:32PM
Thompson backed Juan Amnesty McVain's trashing of the First Amendment to the Constitution to the hilt. Ideological conservatives are not going to be enthusiastic about Thompson, and "rising above ideology" (the mating call of the RINO) is what cost the GOP the election, and will continue to do so in the future...
J. Peter Freire| 11.12.08 @ 2:47PM
J David,
Would immigration be the dealbreaker for you?
Blog Goliard| 11.12.08 @ 3:50PM
"Leveraging the Internet, ESPECIALLY web 2.0 apps is a step in the right direction. This is a defining area for the RNC chair, because it reflects the attention to lessons learned from Obama."
First of all, "Web 2.0" is a buzzword, not a communications strategy.
Second, truly learning the lessons of the Obama candidacy involves both knowing when and how new technologies should be used, and when they are irrelevant. Wasting your time with a campaign website qualifies as the latter, when you're talking about a race for RNC chair. It's not a mass-media or mass-networking situation; and so the most relevant technologies are good old fashioned telephone and new-old-fashioned e-mail...and, of course, whispering to friendly media people.
J. Peter Freire| 11.12.08 @ 4:06PM
Blog Goliard,
Web 2.0 is what you've just engaged in. Social media. I'm sure that you keep returning to this site not just because we write good articles, but because you can write comments as frequently as you do. We appreciate it so much, that we're not willing to dispense with "web 2.0."
But I do see your point. You can't just throw up a website. And there are valid questions about candidates who use the web. The question is how effectively they do it. I'll continue fleshing this out as I continue making calls.
Blog Goliard| 11.12.08 @ 4:32PM
Fair enough. Your point is a good one; it's the nomenclature more than anything that set off my alarm.
The Wikipedia entry for "Web 2.0" links to a brief article that is still quite good on this issue (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060901-7650.html). From my favorite graf:
"When asked if it's fair to say that the difference between the two might be fairly described as 'Web 1.0 is about connecting computers, while Web 2.0 is about connecting people,' Berners-Lee replied, "Totally not. Web 1.0 was all about connecting people. It was an interactive space, and I think Web 2.0 is of course a piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means.'"
MichiganVoice| 11.12.08 @ 4:43PM
Yob was kicked out of Michigan after decades of dividing the state party. He has never won a campaign, and is far from being a conservative. Yob ran McCain's Michigan campaign, and lost to Mitt. Yob ran McCain's Michigan campaign in the general, and did so poorly the McCain camp was forced to pull out. I'm warning all of you outside of Michigan now, Yob will move our party in the wrong direction.
Dan| 11.12.08 @ 5:42PM
I'm not opposed to Thompson as the chair, I just hope he puts a bit more effort into it, and shows a bit more interest in it, than he did in the presidential race.
lou barlow| 11.12.08 @ 6:10PM
Isn't saul anuzis the gentlemen who tried to get ron paul kicked out of the debates for his opposition to the war in iraq, inistence on discussing monetary policy (complete with nutty predictions of economic crisis), and objecting to the government's overspending? And are not these issues primary ones that got us banished from power? I understand this job is not just about ideology, but a clumsy attempt to silence internal conservative dissent is pretty lousy resume line for a chief of a party that needs to recover its conservative credentials.
Kingfish| 11.12.08 @ 7:55PM
The Chair of the Louisiana is a complete joke and the La. Republican party has been a circus for many years. Given three tries, they have yet to field a decent candidate against Mary Landrieau who is very beatable. For some reasons local kook Woody Jenkins, who is disliked by grassroots Republicans, seems to enjoy some special attention from the state party. The state party has also rigged the primary system to where votes may or may not count as the state party reserves the right to override them at its convention. One test of Jindal will be to see how well he cleans up the Louisiana Republican party.