This morning a group of right-of-center journalists met with Saul
Anuzis during a ATR/AmSpec Newsmaker Breakfast. I’ll
post the audio shortly, but I wanted to make the point that Saul
Anuzis’s greatest strength is his availability. When I wrote my
article on him earlier, I called him on his cell phone pretty
frequently (and annoyingly). That comfort with the masses should
inform the rest of the RNC candidates. Although David All (a tech
consultant and blogger
who openly [admirably so] supports Anuzis) was in the room,
there was never an impression that Anuzis was being handled. He
was handling himself.
Anuzis asserted that his candidacy was really based on his belief
in the American dream, coming from a Lithuanian immigrant family.
He pointed out that Republican had forgotten how to make their
case effectively.
The opening questions focused on platform and policy. David
Weigel (now a regular contributor to AmSpecBlog) asked whether
social wedge issues have really been beneficial to the Michigan
GOP, considering the bad last two cycles. Anuzis responded that
it really came down to tone. Al Regnery noted that Reagan picked
up votes where Goldwater didn’t thanks to a change in tone.
Matt Lewis (who follows up
here) asked Anuzis whether there was merit to the claims that
his technological affinities were really just self-promotional.
Anuzis responded that it was a pro-Mike Duncan blog that had made
the claim, and that he felt that technology works best when it’s
personal. (On Twitter, @AmSpec dissents.)
I asked him how he felt the lack of electoral success in Michigan
might hurt his chances for GOP chair. His response was savvy, and
took a dig at Katon Dawson, Anuzis’s competitor for the seat and
currently the South Carolina chair. He said that if electoral
success was the measure by which an RNC chair was selected, then
of course the only guy who could get it would be from South
Carolina. But, he noted, it would probably be a whole lot easier
for him to win elections. But he felt that his experience getting
into fights would be valuable. Working in a blue state, he feels,
gives him credibility.
That may be so. There’s the matter, however, of a lack of
any major electoral success. It’s one thing if he
managed to pull off some upsets — that would certainly show a
fighter’s ability under duress. But Tim Walberg, a Michigan
Congressman who won his nomination via a primary challenge
assisted by Club for Growth, lost in a district that
should have gone his way.
Anuzis pins this and other losses on McCain’s pull-out. There is
a visible impact on the polling before and after McCain
(clumsily) announced his decision to pull out of Michigan. But
even before then, the GOP candidates weren’t exactly cruising to
victory.
This criticism isn’t exclusive to Anuzis. None of the announced
candidates really have a record of turning back the tide. Many of
them have a bit of a record of losing (Ken Blackwell, Mike
Duncan, Michael Steele). Or otherwise running state machines that
face few threats (Katon Dawson). The one thing Anuzis has over
and above the others, however, is accessibility. He did do a
Newsmaker Breakfast. His competitors should follow suit.
