RNC goes five rounds, Michael Steele wins in 6th

Flash:    Michael Steele elected RNC chair--announced at 4:02 p.m. Friday. I'd just posted the column below when the announcement came. Votes total: Steele-91 and Dawson-77. In his acceptance speech, Steele said, "We will cede no ground on matters of principle."

Outgoing RNC chair Mike Duncan has served for 2 years after being elected in 2007. [Photo from gop.com](Washington)—Tony Dungy broke the GOP story of the week when he talked with Rush Limbaugh during Friday’s program. The coach said the Republicans hadn’t come up with a leader yet. Since I knew the RNC vote started earlier in the day, I figured the contest was closer than many thought it would be. The Republican National Committee held its meeting in Washington and votes for the chair began Friday.

Dungy also sidebarred a comment praising Gov. Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter, but I was in the car and couldn’t write it down. Dungy mostly talked about football and the Super Bowl, and he seemed to think the Arizona Cardinals will mount a great battle on Sunday. Dungy is a favorite coach in the Day household.

When I got home, I checked and found Dungy was right—C-SPAN has been carrying coverage of the RNC meeting in real time and there’s an announcement posted: “Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis has withdrawn his name as a candidate for Chairman of the RNC. The first five rounds of voting have taken place and no candidate reached the 85 votes necessary to win. A sixth round was to begin at about 3:45pm (ET) between Katon Dawson & Michael Steele.”

I’m watching on C-Span now, and I have to say Dawson and Steele are both eminently capable. I’m glad if there’s a revote both are on there. I’ve written favorably about Steele—I know him through his writing and speaking. I share a similar background with him. He has a national brand, a strong plus in my point. I’m on his email list and he is a great communicator.

Republicans have no idea who they’re up against when it comes to David Axelrod. The man is a tower of connected wonder. He is the media. Steele is the only GOP leader who has a brand and connections that come close. He’s also keen on the tech aspect of politics, so I’m all for that.

We’ll keep on top of this and we’ll announce it when a candidate is elected. They appear to be calling the state roll right now so there should be another vote soon. The GOP is lucky to have two talented guys who want to serve as chair. Hopefully whoever wins, both candidates will work together to put a scrambled house back in order.