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Wildmon Backs Dawson for RNC

By Robert Stacy McCain on 11.20.08 @ 3:39AM

Don Wildmon of the American Family Association has endorsed South Carolina's Katon Dawson -- and taken a shot at Michael Steele -- in the battle for Republican National Committee Chairman:

In an e-mail sent to supporters today, Wildmon writes that "if the Republican Party is to survive,it must get back to its roots. I believe that Katon Dawson...has the ability to take the party where it needs to go."
As a post script, Wildmon throws a little dirt at one of Dawson's opponents. He passes along a transcript of Lt. Gov. Michael Steele equivocating about Roe v. Wade in 2006. "[F]or many in the pro-life movement, Steele's comments could disqualify him from receiving their support."

Wildmon thus repeats the unfair assault on Steele's pro-life bona fides that Jim Antle reported yesterday. When I heard about this attack Wednesday night at an event in DC, I was angry. Steele is a faithful Catholic and a solid pro-lifer, and anybody who says different is just wrong. It is one thing for opponents to question his success as a fundraiser at GOPAC -- that's fair game -- but it's something else entirely to distort Steele's political beliefs.

I'm told that Wildmon is urging Michigan's Saul Anuzis to throw his support to Dawson. It will be interesting to see how Anuzis responds to Wildmon's tactics, and it will also be interesting to see how Dawson responds to the use of such tactics on his behalf.