Lose Steele Already: RNC Member

(NEWSER) - Things aren’t going well for Michael Steele in the media, but behind the scenes he’s undertaken a sweeping restructuring of the Republican National Committee, Marc Ambinder writes in the Atlantic. “He’s become clownish. And that judgment could endure until the end of his tenure,” Ambinder writes. “But it probably won’t.” If Steele helps the GOP win elections—that’s his job—all will be forgiven. More»

Chairman to announce intentions tonight

(NEWSER) - Michael Steele will announce tonight whether he plans to run for reelection as RNC chair—and it’s looking unlikely. Steele doesn’t appear to have a reelection team in place. Still, he’s been unpredictable in the past, Politico notes. He sent out a message this weekend advising committee members of a conference call at 7:30pm tonight; the email’s tone suggested he wouldn’t run, according to three Steele critics who got the email. More»

'Is it because a black man is chairman?'

(NEWSER) - Michael Steele suggests his race has something to do with the knocks he's taken since becoming chairman of the RNC in an interview with Washingtonian magazine. The interview isn't online yet, but Greg Sargent of Plum Line has an early peek: Steele acknowledges that he can "take things too far," but then wonders why there is so much media coverage of the internal workings of the RNC. More»

Alaska gov. needs time to sort out the current 'financial mess'

(NEWSER) - A Sarah Palin presidential run in the next election is “off the table,” Michael Steele tells Fox News. "Not having talked to the governor, I take 2012 off the table right now simply because (of) everything she's going through personally,” said the Republican party chief. Palin's busy “dealing with the financial mess that all these ludicrous investigations have put her in. At the moment, I think she's trying to focus on getting her personal house in order.” More»

(NEWSER) - Michael Steele told fellow Republicans to go after President Obama himself instead of lesser Democrats, the Washington Post reports. "If we have the courage of our convictions, and we do, then we will and we must stand up against disastrous policies, regardless of the president's popularity," the RNC chairman said in a speech. He called Obama's first 100 days a "reign of terror" and said the president has ceded his agenda "almost entirely to radicals like Nancy Pelosi." More»