RNC Race - Unprecedented and Extraordinary

Okay, it may not seem like such a big deal, but it is to the 168 members of the RNC who will vote for the next Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Unlike years when a Republican President resides in the White House and "picks" a chairman for the committee to "sustain"; this is a real election. I went through one in 1993 when the committee elected Haley Barbour from Mississippi and it occurred again during the Clinton Administration when Jim Nicholsen from Colorado was elected. Each of the those votes took 5 ballots because until someone actually gets 85 votes, we just keep on going... until enough people blink to get a majority.

What is unprecedented and extraordinary this year is the amount of in person campaigining that is going on. First, there was the in person debate (never done before) sponsored by the Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist's group (check out the video on their site....

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=283105-1

Then there were one on one "interviews" by a so-called Conservative Steering Committee (just call it a caucus already) that was also carried by telephone conference call that allowed for remote participation. One of the ostensible reasons for having this meeting was to make sure it was known who was conservative enough to be chairman. In fact, I asked the question to the group assembled to see if anyone on the committee believed that someone was not qualified for lack of a conservative history or philosophy... the answer was a deafening silence... until someone did pipe up and say they didn't think David Gosselin from Connecticut was qualified.

And finally there was a special meeting of the RNC where the candidates once again had a joint forum.

But more than that... every one of the top six canidates have travelled to Utah and met with members of the committee... being Stan Lockhart, Chairman of the Utah Republican Party; Bruce R. Hough, National Committeeman from Utah; and Enid Greene Mickelson, National Committeewoman from Utah. Always considered the flyover state, when there are 3 votes up for grabs and you need 85 to win... every vote really does count.

This is a pretty intense election with all kinds of money, negative campaigning and political intrigue. The election January 30th... Love to hear from you.