A Report From The RNC Meeting In D.C.
By Todd Weiler
I am attending my first meeting of the Republican National Committee this week with Stan Lockhart (party chair), End Micklesen (National Committeewoman) and Bruce Hough (National Committeeman). We are all staying at the Capital Hilton, which incidently is where the Utah Democrats stayed last week for the inauguration. There are several other loyal Utah Republicans who have accompanied us here and we are all having a great time. Yesterday, Rob Bishop took us to the very top of the Capital Dome, and Jason Chaffetz showed us his now-famous cot.
We also had very meaningful conversations with Sen. Bennett and Sen. Hatch. Sen. Bennett took us down to his Capital Office (the “hideaway”), which I thought was really cool. When Sen. Bennett took us down to the underground trains, I spotted Sen. Joe Lieberman and Blagojevich-appointed Sen. Roland Burris (whose had I shook).
Today we took a curator’s tour of the U.S. Supreme Court. It was great. We even got to see the basketball court which is directly above the chambers where the oral arguments are heard.
This is an exciting meeting because we will be electing a new RNC Chair to lead the Republican Party for the next two years. Since we lost the White House, the RNC Chair will lead and speak for the party until the next Republican president is elected.
There are six very good, qualified men running for chair. All six have come to Utah to meet with party leaders and solicit our support. I have been impressed with all of them. The leading candidates appear to be Mike Duncan (current chair) and Michael Steele (former Maryland Lt. Gov. and Fox News contributor). A dark horse candidate who could emerge as a consenses candidate is Saul Anuzis (state party chair from Michigan). If I were a wagering man, I would put my money on Steele. He is impressive in so many ways, and will represent the party well during the Obama presidency. (I really like Ken Blackwell from Ohio, but it doesn’t appear he has enough votes to survive in this race.)
Duncan has been a good solider and is a really great guy. Some people are clamoring for a change, and that is his biggest obstacle. He has effectively argued that his hands have been tied during his tenure by the White House and the McCain campaigns, but I am not sure that his defense will carry the day. I expect Duncan to do well on the first round of balloting. In fact, Orrin Hatch has spoken very highly of Duncan to the Utah delegation.
However, as the rounds of voting continue, I do not expect Duncan to pick up support. There are 168 members of the RNC, so you need 85 votes to win. One interesting twist is that no candidate is automatically dropped off as the rounds go on. So we expect there will be at least 8-10 rounds of voting tomorrow (Friday, January 30, 2009).
I predict Duncan’s high water mark will be the first ballot. If he cannot secure 85 votes right out of the shoot, I expect he will drop each round after that. Unfortunately, this has been a very contentious campaign as there is no party elder around to mediate disputes. As a result, there has been a lot of nastiness and accusations are flying around everywhere. If the Duncan supportors refuse to ultimately embrace Steele, then that may create an opening for Anuzis.
Anuzis seems to be everyone’s number two pick. The last time there was a wide open race for RNC chair in 1997, the Jim Nicholson (Colorado) only received 17 votes in the first round of balloting but ultimately took the cake. (He went on to lead the Department of Verteran Affairs and was later appointed by Bush 43 as an ambassador to the Vatican.) So the winner will have to pick up support as member’s first choices drop by the wayside.
In any event, it will be a very interesting race to watch. Stay tuned!