Pitches for RNC job diverse as candidates seek spotlight

Katon Dawson would be an attack dog with a smile. Saul Anuzis stresses the need for the GOP to use technology. Michael Steele would be the media-friendly African-American representing a party that has lost significant ground with minority voters.

The race to becoming the next chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) is intensifying as candidates seek to break out from the pack and woo the GOP insiders who will cast the deciding votes.

{mosads}The victor, who will be chosen early next year, will face the daunting task of resurrecting a party that is still picking up the pieces from its devastating losses in 2006 and last month.

At least 10 Republicans from around the country are actively running or contemplating a bid.

Six competitors are seen as leading the field, and the 168 committee members are contemplating their varied skill sets.

Despite Democrats winning the White House and expanding their congressional majorities, current RNC Chairman Robert “Mike” Duncan won kudos for his prodigious fundraising. A low-key activist who has been involved in RNC politics for decades, Duncan was first appointed to serve as co-chairman with Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.).

Opponents are not shy in pointing out Duncan’s ties to the Bush administration, and several committee members tell The Hill they will not vote to keep him as chairman.

Two longtime state party chairmen are in the race. Dawson is the South Carolina Republican chairman, a gregarious auto-parts salesman with a heavy Southern twang. Anuzis is the Michigan GOP chief who founded a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) firm and is a favorite on the cable news circuit.

Both chairmen have their disadvantages, though. Some question whether the Republican Party, which critics say is becoming too regional, would benefit from a Southern chairman. Anuzis opponents point to his home state, where Republicans lost two congressional seats, and to his habit of “Twittering,” or leaving micro-messages on the popular website Twitter.com, as possibly undermining a daily message.

A former chairman, Chip Saltsman of Tennessee, is contemplating a bid of his own and has hired staff to boost his chances. As Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign manager, Saltsman engineered a surprising win in the Iowa caucuses, but his critics say he would amount to a stalking horse for a potential repeat campaign for the White House in 2012, which makes some members uncomfortable.

Perhaps the candidate best known by the public, Michael Steele is the least known to members of the committee. Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor who chairs GOPAC, is a ubiquitous face on the cable networks and serves as the most high-profile African-American Republican surrogate. Still, some GOP officials question whether Steele has had much contact with voting RNC members. Sources indicated that Duncan, Dawson and Anuzis have been more active on this front than Steele, who fell short in his 2006 Senate bid against Ben Cardin (D-Md.).

Further complicating Steele’s bid is the presence of former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who entered the race Friday. Aside from being prominent African-American Republicans, the two could split voters concerned with several other aspects crucial to a chairman. Both are former elected officials with personal political experience, are strong draws on fundraising circuits around the country and are ubiquitous on Fox News Channel and conservative media outlets.

Blackwell is much more conservative than Steele, a factor that might play a role in the minds of some committee members. But Steele, who served as Maryland party chairman before winning the lieutenant governor job, may have deeper relationships on which to call with his former RNC colleagues.

{mospagebreak}Texas Republican Party Chairwoman Tina Benkiser, former Michigan national committeeman Chuck Yob and ex-Rep. Jim Nussle (R-Iowa), who now heads the Office of Management and Budget, are also considering runs for the top job. Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer was seen as a top-level contender, but his enthusiasm for the job has waned.

Few national committee members have publicly announced their support for one candidate or another.

{mosads}Though they hear from one or more of the candidates multiple times a day (“The phone is ringing off the hook,” said one undecided member), voters are weighing a complex set of layers before making up their minds.

Should the party hire a chairman who brings a decidedly outsider perspective, like an Anuzis or a Dawson?

Or stick with someone who has good relations with donors, like Duncan or GOPAC’s Steele? Would Saltsman’s political savvy come in handy, or would the party suffer under either of the state chairmen with a shorter list of political victories? How much will a candidate’s ideology — Blackwell, for example, appears to be the candidate most insistent on ideological purity — be a factor?

Some committee members, cognizant that their losses in 2008 came as minority voters went overwhelmingly for Democrats, are actively planning to bring black and Hispanic voters back into the fold. Several think electing Steele or Blackwell would be a positive step in that direction, while others counter that picking either man would appear to be purely a reaction to Barack Obama’s victory.

The landscape likely favors a candidate who has built relationships with those on the committee.

“It’s the ultimate insider’s election,” says New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen, who has not settled on a candidate. “This is a quintessential establishment Republican group. It is not made up of revolutionaries.”

Potential chairmen are also fielding questions on their plans to win back seats in Congress, and they are turning to a surprising source for inspiration. Candidates are trying to attract voters by promising funding akin to Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy. (Never has the former Vermont governor, one of the first major politicians to come out against the war in Iraq, been more venerated in GOP circles.)

Without a doubt, promising to deliver cash to state parties run by the very chairmen who will cast votes in January is a proven tactic.

Candidates for the chairmanship are expounding upon just what the job actually entails. Whether the focus should be more on raising money, being a talking head on television or playing the role of political operative-cum-CEO, the candidates are striving to achieve their own balance.

The next chairman will largely create his or her own role anew, and will play a much more prominent role given the party’s minorities in Congress. “When you have the White House or when you have a presidential campaign, you end up doing things differently than when you don’t,” explains Duncan.

Even though the field has not entirely shaken out, the campaigning has reached a fever pitch.

“I’m one of the few RNC members not running for something,” joked Minnesota GOP Chairman Ron Carey, standing outside a Washington conference room packed with chairman candidates and other RNC members. “I’m very popular in there.”