RNC Chairman Michael Steele has become a recurring nightmare for his party. A comically consistent series of gaffes have kept the RNC in the news for all the worst reasons, and as Sam Stein reports, Republican donors and strategists are having a hard time hiding their disdain. The latest scandals -- revolving around absurd expenditures on nightclubs, swank hotels, private jets, and limo services -- are only solidifying Steele's reputation as both an ineffective manager and an ego-driven loose cannon only interested in using the Chairman's position to live high and promote his own interests.
When Steele was elected, many Republican strategists breathed a sigh of relief. His main competitor, Katon Dawson, was a South Carolinian with a good ol' boy streak a mile wide and a membership in a whites-only golf club just to drive the point home. For a GOP reeling from two disastrous election cycles and facing demographic trends that threatened slow-motion extinction, there were many in the party who believed a charismatic, energetic, and yes, non-white Chairman would help set a new tone for the party heading into 2009. (As a Democratic strategist, I agreed with them, and couldn't help but be disappointed when Dawson lost out in the end.)
A little over a year later, as the unforced errors, prima donna moments, and wild message detours have mounted, Steele has been at best a distraction and at worst a true detriment to the committee's most important roles: driving a consistent Republican narrative and raising money to support the party's 2010 candidates.
Compare that disastrous record to Steele's counterpart on the other side of the aisle - DNC Chairman Tim Kaine. Where Steele has been a rogue agent, a self-promoter, and a faux-pas factory, Kaine has been all consistency, effectiveness, and message discipline, even as the environment has turned dramatically tougher for Democrats.
Don't look now, but under Tim Kaine, the DNC has raised more money than ever under the current campaign finance laws, making them directly competitive with the RNC for the first time in recent memory. Despite tough losses in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, Democrats have won five special elections -- often a purer test of party organization and effectiveness than higher-profile general contests -- including ones in Republican-leaning districts. And after a long, hard year, it turns out that we've accomplished a historic Democratic agenda.
Through it all, Governor Kaine has been one of the Democrats' most reliable surrogate voices, both publicly and privately, with nary a message misstep to his name.
When the President named Kaine to the Chairman's job, there was an element of the unexpected to it. Kaine was serving his final year as Virginia's governor, and despite his convincing 2005 victory in deeply purple Virginia, he wasn't typically thought of as a political operator. But those who have worked with him (as I was fortunate to have in that 2005 campaign) know that he combines genuine conviction and substance with a sharp competitive instinct and a willingness to throw the smart punch.
Just as importantly, Governor Kaine embodies the "No Drama" motto that carried the day in the Obama campaign and, arguably, in the end-game of the health care reform debate.
It's the kind of solid, un-flashy performance that often flies under the radar. Indeed, there are those who have complained that Kaine is too "boring" for the high-profile chairman's role. But as we watch Michael Steele's RNC going through its latest fire drill, I'd bet there are a whole lot of Republicans who'd be happy to make a trade.
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I think that Steele's term at the RNC has been a learning experience for conservatives stuck in old modes of thought. They are learning, gradually, to accept the leadership of non-whites. This is a quantum leap for them; and naturally they have been screaming the whole way. Haley Barbour made serious consulting dollars during his RNC term but few whined the way they have when Steele also made money as RNC chair. So the double standard is obvious. All in all, I have to give the Republicans credit in the way they have come to accept Steele's leadership. Given the racism I have seen in that party at the rank & file level, it is miraculous he made it through the RNC annual meeting in Hawaii. Palin supporting him publicly was an important part of that. He has outraised the DNC and yes he has spent a good portion of it- mostly towards winning elections in 2009.
The GOP will take baby steps before they nominate a woman candidate or elect minority representatives at any reasonable rate. Having a successful black RNC chair is an important step for the nation, in ways we may not appreciate yet. These are after all the laggards when it comes to accepting diversity. Maybe not as important as having a black President, but important nonetheless.
Secondly, lets just be honest he's black and he was "shooed into place for all the wrong reasons. The GOP didn't really want to prove to anyone how diverse they are, they wanted him to destroy Pres. Obama. I don't know what Mikes take on that is but he has made some rather callous statements but I have a hunch that was a script he was supposed to use. If you notice the barbs he tossed out were short lived.
Actually what he's doing is proving to the country what butt-heads his party is. Where there's infighting there's are some serious underlying issues. He knows this and so does the GOP. They just didn't expect him to be so overt with things. There are a few of us left who can read between the lines and not get hooked on the way the media reports stuff.
The GOP is in great position for this november. Our base is energized, we have won in NJ, Virginia, and have taken Kennedy's seat. But if this idi0t keeps this up, it will only hurt. If it has to be a black man, cant somebody go get JC Watts out of hiding?
By the way, Lincoln freed the slaves, and he was a Republican, but he was a Liberal if ever there was one. The party has obviously taken another direction.
And you're spot on about the 2 candidates. I thought the real reason Steele was selected is because the GOP thought he would show the country how "big tent" the party was. Big mistake.
When Lincoln was about, it was the Republican Party that was the big tent party. We've inherited and improved upon their ideals.
http://myspace.com/virginiadem
Stay the Course, Hip Hop Mike! Don't let those haters get you down!
I would like Tim Kaine to light a fire under the Arizona Democratic party in the race for Senator. While McCain and his Tea Party opponent scrabble as to who will represent the Republicans in the fall, the Dems could pull an upset if they get behind and support a credible candidate.
Get him out, we need a real Dem like Howard Dean back in that position.
> only a feeble minded person would want to be in politics.
That's a very conservative attitude. It's no wonder everything they touch turns to fraud.
There actually ARE people in existance who want to make the world a better place. Crazy, right? But it's true.
"Let him twist, twist slowly- in the wind."