A number of thoughts about the RNC Chairmanship race. First, many
congratulations to Michael Steele. He is a good man, a great
communicator, and a breath of fresh air in attitude and outlook.
The downside risks with Steele are that he was probably the least
conservative of the six announced candidates, AND the one with
the thinnest record of nuts-and-bolts organizing, fundraising and
electoral success. Those are significant concerns -- but I think
he is sincerely more conservative than not, that he has a fairly
good ear for political tone, that he will be a good
representative for the party, and that he has all the potential
in the world to put to rest doubts about his organizational bona
fides. The tests will be if he spends more money on the
grassroots than on consultants, if he takes an aggressive posture
on candidate recruitment rather than leaving it to the NRCC and
RSC, and if he serves an an honest broker ideologically while
doing everything in his power to nurture the conservative grass
roots. My hopes for him are much higher than my doubts.
Second, a note on Katon Dawson: I think he was by far the class
of the field in terms of nuts-and-bolts stuff, and clearly an
incredible talent in terms of party-building. I think his
membership in an all-whites country club was what kept him from
winning -- which is in one sense a crying shame, because I think
the rest of his record shows him to be anything but a racist. I
think the whole question about country club membership is a bogus
one -- but, politics being a very real-world undertaking, the
simple fact is that the media would NEVER have let him live it
down, especially if he had won in the final ballot in a
head-to-head race with a black man. The media also would have
pushed the meme that Dawson is just another Lee Atwater-like
dirty trickster, merely because Dawson came up through the South
Carolina party while Atwater was still around. Again, that would
not have been a fair assessment, but it would have been used
repeatedly anyway. All of which would have made his election
problematic. But I hope there are no hard feelings between him
and Steele, and I hope Steele calls on him and engages him fully
in his organizational and fundraising efforts. Dawson is quite a
talent.
Third, a note on Ken Blackwell. I think it was obvious that I had
come to favor him. I think his exit was incredibly classy, which
is befitting a very classy man and a great public servant. I have
admired Blackwell for a long time, and I hope and pray that his
life in public office is not over. I want to see him in a
leadership position, and I look for great things from him. I
repeat, however, my utter disgust with the RNC for giving
Blackwell so few votes. I consider it a deliberate affront to the
conservative movement, considering how many movement leaders (or
leaders of movement organizations) endorsed him. What the RNC
said is that the conservative movement means nothing to it. The
"establishment" still doesn't understand that the movement is the
only source of strength the party has -- and I am furious at the
establishment's attitude. It has been thus ever since the elder
Bush took the reins of the party in 1988, and it stinks.
Fourth, a note on Saul Anuzis. What an engaging personality and
energetic go-getter! May he Twitter his way to success in the
future.
Fifth, as for Mike Duncan. He merits thanks for good, solid
service and excellent fund-raising. We'll never know how well he
would have done on his own as chairman (apart from the W. Bush
White House), because it would have been suicide for the party to
give him that chance. Through no fault of his own, but for plenty
of good reasons, the grassroots would have been angry beyond
belief if the RNC didn't change its leadership after the House
and Senate also stayed the same at the top. The disgust for the
GOP establishment among the grassroots is deep and palpable, and
Duncan was a symbol of the establishment. All reports are that he
is a truly fine gentleman, though, and he has provided valuable
services.
Sixth, as to Chip Saltsman: I never gave him a chance. I figured
that if you lie down with dogs, you get flees -- and he ran the
campaign of Mike Huckabee, the unethical economic- and
foreign-policy liberal. Such a shame. Saltsman probably was right
to argue that the sins of the candidate should not be held
against the campaign manager -- but those political sins made
Saltsman un-viable from the start. But I've gotta admit: On the
one conference call with him that I listened in on, he sounded
like a good guy.
So where does the RNC go from here? One can only hope that it
becomes a lean and effective engine for forward-looking
conservative leadership melded with effective politics. If Steele
hires good people and serves with energy, and refuses to be
satisfied with just making some good TV appearances, the future
can be bright. But it will be a hard, hard road.
