Your Roundup of the RNC Chair Race

At 1pm EST today, Americans for Tax Reform and The Daily Caller will host a debate of all announced candidates for Chair of the RNC. The 168 members of the GOP Committee will vote January 14th to select a Chair for a new two-year term, which, of course, includes the period of redistricting and the critical 2012 election.

The race for RNC Chair won’t get a lot of attention from either the media or, sadly, the grass roots, but it is an important campaign. It seems counter-intuitive, but the national GOP actually underperformed this past November. Yes, they won the House and picked up an historic 60+ seats, but it could-and should-have been 75-80 seats. They left 3-4 Senate seats on the table. Worse, the GOP came up short in Governor’s races, which are critically important with redistricting on the agenda this year. (They lost to Jerry Brown (!), Rod Blagojevich’s Lt. Gov, and a retread who supports socialized medicine, for example.) Don’t get me wrong, it was a great victory, but, watching from the front-lines, it hurts to realize it could have been even greater, but for the disfunction of the national party.

As I have written before, the first job of the RNC Chair is to ‘do no harm.’ Don’t make gaffes on the Sunday shows or in speeches, raise lots of money and execute a robust ground game for election day. In the closing days of the midterms, the RNC pulled out of most of its election-day GOTV operations…because they didn’t have any money…because the current Chair and organization had alienated the grassroots, which cost them lots of donations. (You can see a theme, right?) Who knows how many more races the GOP could have won with a normally functioning party?

But, enough with the past. This isn’t about the RNC we had, but about the RNC we want to have. And that election is in less than two weeks.

So, let’s recap where we are on this race. Because, while most of us were gorging on College Bowl games or ignoring the world because we gorged on things that weren’t College Bowl games, several interesting things happened. So, let’s have a roundup.

Obviously, the first candidate to mention is the current RNC Chair Michael Steele, who, while it does boggle the mind, is running for reelection. Enough said. Google him if you want to understand why he is fighting for his political life.

The ‘frontrunner‘ to succeed him is Reince Priebus–because Augustus Gloop III wasn’t available. Priebus, in addition to being party chair in WI, is the former right-hand man to Steele. He served has the campaign manager for Steele’s run for Chair and then took a staff job as General Counsel at the RNC, which would position him to approve all of Steele’s contracts with outside consultants or friends. Which he did, apparently.

But, it seems worse than that. Super blogger Dan Riehl has documented some other problems with Priebus. Here is his report on Priebus’ possible work securing stimulus funds. (Here is my take on the silly defense offered by Priebus’ supporters.) And here is his report on Priebus supporting government eminent domain against a small business owner. Uber-blogger Jim Hoft noted Priebus’ law firm’s support of ObamaCare. RedState noted Priebus’ too-close ties to Steele here. David Norcross, the former Chair of the New Jersey GOP mustered up a defense of Priebus at National Review Online here. Weak? Yes. Isn’t it great that the RNC has to begin the race for a new Chair with so many defenses of its “frontrunner.” Remember that “do no harm” advice?

Another candidate for RNC Chair is for MO state party chair Ann Wagner. She is a proven fundraiser and former Ambassador to Luxemburg. Jim Hoft announced her candidacy here. The Daily Caller has a profile here, where Wagner worries about the ‘creep of socialism.’

Another candidate is DC GOP operative and Pfizer-drug company-lobbyist Maria Cino. Her latest work for Pfizer was lobbying to enact ObamaCare. Yes, you read that right. And, she wants to be head of the RNC. Enough said. But, you can read nice things about her here.

Another candidate, Gentry Collins, former political director of the RNC just shuttered his campaign. In the days before he ended his campaign, one of his most vocal supporters, CT Chair Chris Healy released a scathing memo on Reince Priebus. You can find it here. Even though Collins is no longer a candidate, it is worth a read. I grew up in Illinois/Chicago politics, so I am a bit jadded, but I’d be shocked if Priebus and Steele haven’t already worked out a deal. I’d bet dollars to donuts that Priebus and Steele already have a deal in place.

The final candidate is former MI Chair Saul Anuzis. A profile of him at The Daily Caller is here. I know from personal experience that Saul is very adept at social media, like Twitter and Facebook.

This under-the-radar race is very important. Again, the RNC Chair should ‘do no harm.’ The current Chair is disqualified. There are a couple candidates who run the risk of continuing the damage to the party and a couple who might actually be able to do something productive. But, only 168 people make the choice…and probably a third of them have a vested financial interest in the outcome.

Today, I was given the full list of all RNC members casting a vote. The list included their home numbers and emails. I’m tempted to publish this list, to deliver a bit of tea-party-wupass on anyone thinking to extend the Steele/Priebus/Cino grip on the party.

I don’t yet have a dog in this fight, but I’m committed to watching it and responding accordingly. We absolutely can’t have a retread of the Steele/Priebus/Cino cabal. If either of them win, we should create a Big PAC, leverage our own energy and resources, and do our own thing. The GOP/RNC has a decision to make.

This is the Internet. Everything has changed.