RNC Vote: No Candidate Receives Majority In First Round
The Republican National Committee's winter meeting has just announced the vote totals from the first round of balloting in the heated race for RNC chairman. No candidate has received the 85-vote majority needed to win just yet, but so far it's a tight race between incumbent chairman Mike Duncan and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele:
• Duncan 52
• Steele 46
• South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson 28
• Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis 22
• Former Ohio Sec. of State Ken Blackwell 20
Overall this is not a good result for Duncan -- he is an incumbent who only received 31% of the vote in the first round of voting, and a viable non-Duncan candidate is trailing just narrowly behind. This is also a bit of an embarrassment for right-wing bloggers and movement conservative activists, who had actively been supporting Blackwell.
The RNC has now gone out to lunch -- and presumably a lot of deal-making -- before we go into the second round later.
Josh
Elana
Matt
Eric
Let us hope for many, many ballots; lots of hurt feelings, bruised egos and feuds.
January 30, 2009 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
So how does this work - the lowest vote getter, Ken Blackwell in this case, is removed from the ballot and all vote again?
I'm hoping for Katon Dawson, because South Carolina politics is so out-of-touch with the rest of America you don't know what Dawson would try and pull thinking "well it works in SC"...
However from the first vote it looks like Steele has it. Folks who didn't vote Duncan want change at the top, meaning they're probably more likely to move to Steele than Duncan.
Steele can be trumpeted as the "new" republican party reaching out to minorities...
January 30, 2009 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Steele's my favorite.
January 30, 2009 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mike the Magic Negro would do wonders for the GOP.
January 30, 2009 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
(Starting the "called out for blatant racism" clock)12:38:14...15...16...
January 30, 2009 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
12:43:13...14...15...
(5mins)
January 30, 2009 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe the point that was being made is that Steele defended the "Barack the Magic Negro" song/CD compilation.
January 30, 2009 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's still a racist comment. That's one of my biggest problems with you guys. You twist stuff into a pretzel to find racist code language about any minority unless it's a conservative, then you can call him an Uncle Tom and pelt him with Oreos and it's acceptable.
January 30, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rush has decreed that the song is not racist, so you had better retract your statement or suffer the wrath of the Great One.
January 30, 2009 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ahhhh. The orea incident. Which can't be verified independently.
January 30, 2009 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
You mean like the "kill him" incident at the Palin rally that was investigated and deemed never to have happened by the secret Service that y'all decided was proof that the Republican party should be outlawed...?
January 30, 2009 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly like that. A made-up incident designed to appeal to the worst instincts in everyone for political capital.
Doesn't matter which side engages in it. It's disgusting.
January 30, 2009 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree...
January 30, 2009 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
And I'd like to add: why are you continuing to pass along that palaver in this discussion?
January 30, 2009 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
He made the claim, as far as I know the Secret Service didn't conduct an investigation into it. Not being proven, and being disproven are two different things.
January 30, 2009 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, so repeating something that you don't know to be true is okay in your moral playbook. Not surprising at all.
January 30, 2009 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're passing along an incident in which there's real debate about what actually took place, in order to make a political point on a discussion board.
You're better than that.
January 30, 2009 1:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
He claimed it happened...I haven't seen anyone who was there that denies it happened...ar any investigation into the incident. Unlike the Palin one that is accepted as gospel by most here.
January 30, 2009 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, more strawmen from Wally the loser, what a surprise. We don't think the Republican party should be outlawed, seeing as how you've already transformed yourselves into the Southern Regional Party.
There was plenty of hate speech coming from Sarah Palin on a daily basis, with wingut morons cheering her on and saying all sorts of moronic things. How'd that work out for you losers? Oh, and then there was that fine example of the conservative voter who told McCain she thought Obama was an Arab. Your intellectual bretheren. Good luck expanding on that base. LOL
January 30, 2009 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
What, you actually expect good faith and honest commentary from our resident wingnut defender of racism?
January 30, 2009 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Huh? Comeon, that's inaccurate. It obviously was a play on steele's defense of the stupid song.
Now you want to talk about dog whistle politics played by republicans, that's a whole other issue. I don't think that steele can change the tactic and he probably doesn't want to.
January 30, 2009 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
It doesn't take racial "code language" for any thinking person to know that sending around that cd was stupid and yes, racist. And mocking someone who defended that action is not the same thing.
Of course you can't see that because you're an obtuse jackass who goes out of his way to defend stupid racist behavior and tries to create a false equivalence. Then you bitch and moan about how you and your fellow wingnut losers can't engage in racist behavior but the evil liberals can. Bullshit.
And you idiots wonder why you've devolved into the Southern Regional Party.
January 30, 2009 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just waiting for you to admit that oskieoskie's comment above was racist or are you "an obtuse jackass who goes out of his way to defend stupid racist behavior and tries to create a false equivalence?"
January 30, 2009 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
He repeated a racist comment made by a Republican who turned it into a cd and sent it around to all his friends who apparently thought it was hilarious and defended it.
Let me get this straight--simply repeating something that someone else said or did makes one a racist? So much for reporting then. With a "thought" process like that, it's no wonder the GOP has shrunk to nothing but the wingnut rump of its former self.
January 30, 2009 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can dance around it all you want. He used a racial slur against Michael Steele. You don't care because Steele is a conservative.
January 30, 2009 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Steele defended it you moron. There's nothing to dance around.
If you think it's wrong, why are you supporting someone who defends racial slurs?
I'll let you argue that one out with yourself, moron.
January 30, 2009 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh I see, since Steele defended it, anyone can call him it...I'm just updating my Democrat's list of acceptable racial/sexist activities list.
January 30, 2009 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why is it acceptable to call Obama it, but not Steele? I can only assume it's because you think it's okay to use racist slurs against black progressives. Steele agrees.
Mocking someone who engages in racism is not the same thing as racism. If a reporter repeats a slur used by a racist, does that make the reporter racist? Apparently in your feeble mind it does. The mind of someone desperate to create an equivalence where none exists.
January 30, 2009 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wally the Wingnut supports a candidate who defended the use of a racial slur by a Republican.
Why?
January 30, 2009 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Still waiting for Wally to explain why he supports a candidate who defends racial slurs. I guess no nuance is required.
January 30, 2009 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep. Also a nod to the fact that Chip Saltsman, who made the song part of his campaign, dropped out before the first ballot.
January 30, 2009 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
dropped out before the first ballot
That was a true political tragedy.
Saltsman was my first choice, all the way.
Just last week, I said to him:
"Saltsman, you is my yid"
January 30, 2009 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
You betcha. Also too.
Let's hope the RNC has as much success under him as GOPAC did.
From Gallup:
January 30, 2009 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does this mean this is no longer a center right country?
January 30, 2009 1:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Absolutely. You think reality is going to prevent people like Jon Meachem from telling us how center-right we are?
January 30, 2009 1:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
No one drops out...unless they choose to. You just vote, meet discuss, vote again. Until someone gets a majority.
January 30, 2009 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
""See how they run, See how they run!
They all ran after the farmer's wife
She cut off their tails, With a carving knife!
Did you ever see, Such a sight in your life?""
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16lY_FPscek
January 30, 2009 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
The RNC has now gone out to lunch
That has been the case for years.
January 30, 2009 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nothing makes me happier than seeing Blackwell go down in flames.
Disenfranchise voters? Check
Take up for Saltsman? Check
Call Obama a socialist? Check
Win RNC chair? EPIC FAIL
January 30, 2009 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
What does it say about the future of the GOP if the right-wing bloggers and bowel-movement conservatives backed the guy who came in dead last?
January 30, 2009 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh dear. They must be squirming over at Redstate.
Thanks for that, Eric! Made my day!
January 30, 2009 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Today's trivia: Erick Erickson the guy who runs Red State is a city councilman here in Macon GA.
January 30, 2009 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Really?
How effective is he as a councilman?
January 30, 2009 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's one of only two Republicans (16 members) on the city council, he's entertaining. Does a lot of guest hosting on local radio.
January 30, 2009 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Steele will take it since he's black, and the Republicans need a black face on TV to argue against Obama.
January 30, 2009 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
HRRH (His Royal Republican Highness) Rush won't like that one bit.
I'm sure he believes that, like quarterbacks and coaches, the RNC ChairMAN should be WHITE!
And as for Blackwell, well, go figure. Maybe he can fix this like he fixed Ohio in 2004.
So what ever happened to Santorum, Delay, Frist, Allen, etc. ad infinitum?
In 2003, they were all considered leaders of the party, so, where are they now? Leadership has become a rare commodity in the Republican Party. That fish is rotting from the head down.
January 30, 2009 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why do the republicans always think that a token minority is somehow going to improve their standing with the minority group? I really don't understand that one. It's not the color of the skin that matters, it's the gop's policies that matter to people. It really doesn't make a lick of sense to me.
January 30, 2009 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's all ACORN's fault. They obviously registered too many Republicans.
January 30, 2009 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL!
January 30, 2009 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Diebold will fix that. They might be Democrat voters, but they will cast Republican votes.
January 30, 2009 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
While they're "out to lunch" will the vote be stolen?
January 30, 2009 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
THIS
January 30, 2009 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
... IS GREAT NEWS ...
January 30, 2009 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
FOR....
January 30, 2009 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
!!!
January 30, 2009 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow...No candidate got a majority. That say's a lot about the future of the republican party...lol
January 30, 2009 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now now. The theme is "Republican for a reason".
But they lost the piece of paper with the reason on it. Hence the disarray.
January 30, 2009 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm glad Ken Blackwell is out of it. He really screwed with the Ohio election in 2004. Among many republicans, he has been at the top of my list as someone who should never be allowed to represent citizens of any stripe in anything.
This is so weird. Who ever ends up as RNC chairman, he will head a party which by no means has any intention of representing citizens in any way that citizens would actually wish to be represented. That is the reality of the upside down world of republican politics where everything they do ultimately harms Americans. It's amazing that the alternate dimension in which they operate is able to declare their actions a success.
It is a statistical anomaly that such a large group of people can be so reliably wrong.
January 30, 2009 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
...FOR RUSH LIMBAUGH!
January 30, 2009 2:47 PM | Reply | Permalink