And the winner in the closely watched race for the Republican National Committee chairman is….nobody so far. And, most notably, not the person President George Bush preferred:
Neither former President George W. Bush’s hand-picked national party chairman nor his four challengers got the required 85 votes needed to become party chief on the first or second tally, pushing the election to a third ballot Friday.
Of the 168 votes cast by the Republican National Committee, Chairman Mike Duncan, who is seeking a second two-year term, and former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele emerged from the second round with the most votes, 48 apiece.
Among the others; South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson got 29, while Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis took 24. And, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell trailed with 19.
Thus far, none of the five has dropped out and thrown his support behind another. That is expected to change, the more rounds of voting there are, and that means seemingly anyone could end up with a majority.
The arguments each of the five in the running have made are here.
The election comes at a pivotal time for the Republican party when it is minus a clearcut elected leader and when its image increasingly seems of that of a party that follows the advice of a popular conservative talk show host.
Former Republican Oaklahoma Congressman Mickey Edwards writes that former President Ronald Reagan would not recognize his party today:
In my mind’s eye, I can see President Ronald Reagan perched on a cloud and watching all the goings-on down here in his old earthly home.
Rolling his eyes and whacking his forehead over the absurdities he sees, he’s watching his old political party twist itself into complex knots, punctuated by pauses to invoke “the Gipper’s” name.
It’s been said that God would be amazed by what his followers ascribe to him; believe me, Reagan would be similarly amazed by what fervent admirers cite in their desire to be seen as true-blue Reaganites.
On the premise that simple is best, many Republicans have reduced their operating philosophy to two essentials: First, government is bad (it’s “the problem”); second, big government is the worst and small government is better (although because government itself is bad, it might be assumed that small government is only marginally preferable).
Government is “… us
This is all errant nonsense. It is wrong in every conceivable way and violative of the Constitution, American exceptionalism, freedom, conservatism, Reaganism and common sense. In America, government is “… us.
What would Reagan think of this? Wasn’t it he who warned that government is the problem?
Well, permit me. I directed the joint House-Senate policy advisory committees for the Reagan presidential campaign. I was part of his congressional steering committee. I sat with him in his hotel room in Manchester, N.H., the night he won that state’s all-important primary. I knew him before he was governor of California and before I was a member of Congress.
Let me introduce you to Ronald Reagan.
There’s a lot there so go to the link and read it all. But here is the ending of this piece written by a Republican who worked with Reagan:
Last year’s presidential campaign, on the other hand, saw the emergence of a Republican Party that was anti-intellectual, nativist, populist (in populism’s worst sense) and prepared to send Joe the Plumber to Washington to manage the nation’s public affairs.
Over the past several years, conservatives have turned themselves inside out: They have come to worship small government and have turned their backs on limited government. They have turned to a politics of exclusion, division and nastiness. Today, they wonder what went wrong, why Americans have turned on them, why they lose, or barely win, even in places such as Indiana, Virginia and North Carolina.
And, watching, I suspect Reagan is smacking himself on the forehead, rolling his eyes and wondering who in the world these clowns are who want so desperately to wrap themselves in his cloak.
Read it in its entirety.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.