Has Michael Steele's bumbling reached a critical mass that it will cost him the chairmanship of the RNC -- or will he just keep on bumbling instead?

The latest bad news for Steele is a report that certain Republicans may be plotting a coup against him, a no-confidence vote to be held after the March 31 special election for Kirsten Gillibrand's former House seat is out of the way.

In an interview with Cal Thomas, Steele dismissed any call for a resignation. "No!" he shouted. "And shame on [those] who should have the cojones to at least come and talk to me." And here's how he characterized his detractors: "The mice who are scurrying about the Hill are upset because they no longer have access to the cheese, so they don't know what's going on."

Meanwhile, Mike Allen thinks Steele isn't leaving any time in the immediate future. However, the real test will be when the fundraising numbers come in for the next two quarters.

Granted, there have been some foul-ups so far. It's been just under a month and a half since Steele became RNC chairman, and in that time he has, among other things:

• Promised a new "off the hook" image for the Republican Party, appealing to "hip-hop settings."

• Gone back and forth on threatening to cut off financial support for pro-stimulus Republicans, and attracted criticism from Senators for doing so.

• And of course, he disassociated himself from Rush Limbaugh, was then attacked by Limbaugh, and then apologized to Limbaugh and praised his leadership. And he was later denounced by Joe The Plumber.

The question, then, is to what degree the anti-Steele push may be coming from people who were against him to begin with, and thus see an opening, and how much political capital there may be among the rest of the GOP to either keep or dump him.

One thing worth pointing out: Taegan Goddard's report of an imminent coup indicated that Katon Dawson, the outgoing South Carolina GOP chairman that Steele defeated in a 91-77 vote, may be lining it up. And Dawson has publicly said he'd be doing things differently if he were chairman. And Ada Fisher, the RNC member who has called for Steele's resignation, was a Dawson-backer during the leadership race.

In the last few days, Steele has gone into damage-control mode, canceling all interviews and hunkering down to focus on hiring staffers at the RNC, something he hadn't been doing, and which had been attracting the ire of many Republicans -- and in at least one case, an on-the-record complaints from a Republican Senator, John Thune of South Dakota.

I spoke to a national GOP source who says they have not personally spoken to anyone complaining about Steele, and views this is as a distraction being pushed by Democrats in order to take attention away from the economy.

I asked about the reported connection to the March 31 special election and whether a possible Republican loss would spark a successful coup. "I'm hesitant to get into people's motives for why they think one thing or another," the source added. "Some people may, or they may not. I'm a little hesitant to say whether or not people would use this as a reason, or another reason, or their sole reason for being upset with the chairman."