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RNC Election, Round Three: Steele Takes The Lead -- Can He Keep It?
The RNC has announced the third round of ballot results for the RNC chair race -- and it shows incumbent Mike Duncan going down as Michael Steele takes the lead. The numbers, compared to the second round:
• Steele 51 (+3)
• Duncan 44 (-4)
• Dawson 34 (+5)
• Anuzis 24 (+0)
• Blackwell 15 (-4)
It's hard to imagine how Duncan comes back from here, as an incumbent with only 26% of the vote. The most likely scenario now is that Michael Steele or another non-Duncan candidate will end up emerging as the winner.
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Josh
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Matt
Eric
Blackwell has to drop out now - no reason to stay in any longer. The next ballot should be telling if he does bow out and if he endorses any other candidate or not.
It's going to come down to Steele or Dawson.
January 30, 2009 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Duncan is toast. The Politico guy on C-SPAN said that Blackwell's strategy was to remain in the field for a minimum of five rounds of voting.
Looks like it will be Steele or Dawson at this stage (Dawson is the preferred wingnut candidate).
January 30, 2009 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Probably assumed he wouldn't be the bottom guy bleeding votes though.
January 30, 2009 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Social Conservatives do NOT like Steele. I wonder what this will do.
January 30, 2009 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
With Dawson form SC, you'd figure he's have his social conservative bonafides...
January 30, 2009 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm a social conservative and Steele's my choice.
January 30, 2009 2:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't mean to use a broad brush.
Some social conservatives do not like him.
January 30, 2009 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
lol
January 30, 2009 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why?
I'm curious.
January 30, 2009 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe it's Steele's defense of racist slurs and using them as Christmas gifts?
January 30, 2009 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I doubt it.
I don't think SFC's comment was out of line at all. I appreciate why the commenter made the comment, but even I was a little startled by it, and I tend to agree with SFC. If it's offensive to begin with, why repeat it, even as snark?
In any event, nothing SFC has ever written has been even remotely racist, in my mind, and I don't think he was actually defending anything in this case. He was asking how is this different. I don't think that was inappropriate.
January 30, 2009 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Then why does he support a candidate who can't simply condemn a remark that he finds offensive? Not just a remark, but making a song and a cd out of it and sending it as a gift to all your buddies. I've seen Wally make repeated comments where he tries to defend racism by looking for a false equivalence, as opposed to just saying that something is stupid or wrong--but that would require him to say that Republicans are wrong about something.
January 30, 2009 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
But the original issue wasn't about what Steele said. It was about what a commenter on this board said.
January 31, 2009 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who else do you guys think will follow Saltsman's footsteps?
http://www.governmentalityblog.com/my_weblog/2009/01/chip-saltsman-pulls-out-of-rnc-race.html
January 30, 2009 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, it seems there are 168 votes total. Where do they get that number from?
January 30, 2009 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's Michael Steele - Democrat, right?
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/Steele_Democrat_Sign.jpg
January 30, 2009 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh lord. I'm hitting f5 like it's a primary election night or something.
What's wrong with me?
January 30, 2009 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Withdrawal?
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/obama_win_causes_obsessive
January 30, 2009 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
RNC Admits to tokenism??
sounds like it to me...but if they think just electing a black man to head the party will solve their "old white guy" problem they're mistaken.
they need policies and ideas that aren't hostile to minorities. And until they get those, it won't matter if the RNC chair is black, white, yellow or pink...
January 30, 2009 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
So a black guy is most likely going to be head of one of the whitest incarnations of the Republican party ever. Good times. I'm sure he'll do just great.
January 30, 2009 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sure they'll have as much success bringing African Americans into the party with Steele as they did with Palin and the women's vote.
I also learned that Saltzman's cd also included an anti-Hispanic song as well--too bad he dropped out, it would have been win-win for the Repubs. Lose the black vote and lose the hispanic vote.
Even Mitch McConnell says they're becoming a regional party.
January 30, 2009 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's too bad that it took a full-blown economic catastrophe to put the Republicans out of business. It's a terrible thing to contemplate, but if economic conditions had been OK in November, John McCain and Sarah Palin would be in the White House as we speak.
Oy.
January 30, 2009 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow. Duncan bows out - Did he endorse anybody? This could be over on the next ballot if he did.
January 30, 2009 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
If I were him, I'd endorse Blackwell. If the bastards won't reelect him, let the party self-destruct...
January 30, 2009 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
..but if they think just electing a black man to head the party will solve their "old white guy" problem they're mistaken.
"Your father" (not yours) "Was a horse's ass"!
Putney Swope
January 30, 2009 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink