<div><p>Who's Up and Who's Down After RNC Chairman Debate?</p><p>What moderator Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) dubbed correctly as the "first debate ever" among candidates for the chairmanship Republican National Committee (RNC) concluded the afternoon of Monday January 5. The election itself will take place at the RNC meeting January 18-31. Much like the presidential debates I reported on in '07-08, the exchange among present RNC Chairman Mike Duncan and five opponents drew considerable attention from party activists and the press. The main ballroom of the National Press Club was standing room only, and the two rows of tables for reporters were packed. There were even "spinmeisters" available for reporters after the debate. Veteran political consultant Tony Marsh, who is running the chairman's race of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, buttonholed me minutes after the debate concluded to tell me how well his man had done. When Marsh told me that the Steele team had enough votes to be competitive on the first ballot, I asked how many that was. He replied: "We're not sharing our vote count yet."</p><p>It is difficult to say who won and who lost the debate. There are so many other forces at work in this race, that it is safe to say that even a good showing in the debate, will not necessarily give a candidate the lift needed to insure victory in the vote of the 168-member RNC at its meeting late this month.. Clearly, State Chairman Katon Dawson of South Carolina and Saul Anuzis of Michigan came across as lively knowl- edgeable "take-charge guys," both demon- strating they had organizational expertise and technological acumen. So, too, did for- mer Tennessee State Chairman and Mike Huckabee campaign manager Chip Salsman, who spoke eloquently of his break with his mentor, former Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist over a proposed income tax as a case of putting conservative principles first. But Salsman may have been irreparably hurt by the recent national controversy questioning his judgment in sending out a CD that included the song "Barack the Magic Negro" (which was actually first publicized on national radio by Rush Limbaugh).</p><p>As always, Michael Steele was genial and articulate - citing his background as the son of a sharecropper's daughter who saw him become his state's first African-American lieutenant governor and discussing the influ- ences of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roo- sevelt, and Ronald Reagan. In the process, however, Steele also failed to fully dampen questions among conservatives as to how solidly conservative he is. He specifically cited the "pragmatism" of Theodore Roo- sevelt as an influence on him and, when the candidates were asked to name a failure of the Bush Administration, Steele was the only one to say Katrina. (Conservatives usually point to the failures of two Democrats, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco rather than to the administration when discussing the worst natural disaster in history.) Following the debate, I spoke to Iowa's two national committee members, Steve Scheffler and Kirn Lehman, who made it clear they had both ruled out Steele because of the kind words he had previously voiced about the liberal Republican Leadership Council founded by former liberal GOP New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.</p><p>"Steele lost me on the Leadership Council," said Scheffler.</p><p>Incumbent Chairman Mike Duncan appeared as "chairmanlike" as any of the others and pointed with pride to his fundraising skill that put the RNC in the black. However, the complaint that re-electing the chairman named by George W. Bush is akin to putting a used tire on a new car was heard frequently from observers. Duncan did nothing to dispel this when he became the only chairman hopeful who failed to endorse an upcoming RNC resolution condemning the financial bailouts that have been supported by the Bush White House.</p><p>Blackwell and the "Early Birds"</p><p>If there was any candidate who did not meet early expectations, it was clearly former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. Long a conservative hero in Ohio and nationally, Blackwell talked without animation about his ten-point plan for the revitalizing the party, holding up a copy of the manifesto. He talked in general terms about how he had won 13 of 17 elections he had been in, and even threw a jab at Dawson saying he couldn't match his record of wins in "the swing state of South Carolina." He spoke, almost preached, of being "an activist, thinker, and office-holder" - but didn't talk in terms of being an organizer.</p><p>Blackwell has been the subject of much discussion over the past few days, ever since a group of social conservatives and a few others on the right held a conference call on Friday the 2 and hastily agreed to endorse the Ohioan for chairman, without even waiting for the Monday debate. The pro-Ken Blackwell group included such notables on the right as Gary Bauer, Virginia Republican National Committeeman Morton Blackwell, Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum, and Tony Perkins of Family Research Council (which has employed the former Ohio official as a senior fellow). Also weighing in for Blackwell for chairman in the hasty phone poll were some conservatives not so identified with the social issues, such as Steve Forbes (whose 2000 presidential campaign Blackwell was a national co-chairman of), former Atty. Gen. Ed Meese, and American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene.</p><p>What is leaving other conservatives not included in the conference call mystified and a bit angry is just why this group moved for Ken Blackwell so quickly, since the participants knew the debate was coming up on Monday, just three days later. They also knew that a large group of leading conservatives had agreed at a meeting on December 2 that a debate among the candidates was important this year because, with a Democratic President, a main qualification for a new chairman would be an ability to publicly communicate in an engaging fashion the party's conservative positions. This was an ability Blackwell did not demonstrate in the debate. Apparently his backers wanted to make their endorsement quickly Friday because a straw vote was to be held Tuesday among a group of conservatives on the RNC indicating their favorite for chairman.</p><p>But this vote didn't happen. Dubbing itself "the Conservative Steering Committee," the small group of conservatives on the RNC who had planned the straw vote abruptly decided at the last minute not to hold the balloting after all. With 37 members of the steering committee showing up and the several others participating by phone, the vote was 28 to 17 to scrap the straw vote. Indiana RNC member James Bopp presided over the closed-door conclave. Backers of Ken Blackwell (led by Morton Blackwell) were reportedly unanimous in voting down the straw vote. As to why they took this surprise action following that early-bird endorsement of Blackwell by the group of national conservatives, there were strong signs that Ken Blackwell just didn't have the votes to secure a win. The Ken Blackwell forces were joined by backers of Steele (led by Michigan RNC member Holly Hughes) in scuttling the straw poll.</p><p>There is also to be an unusually early meeting of RNC members later this week to discuss the chairmanship they will vote on at the end of the month.</p><p>For now, perhaps the parting comment of New Jersey National Committeeman David Norcross is the best post-mortem on the debate: "No runs, no hits, no errors."</p><p>© 2009 Human Events Publishing, Inc. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=41284781&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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