Steele Will Head RNC

(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»

Dawson said to be organizing no confidence vote for after NY election

(NEWSER) - Controversial Republican National Committee head Michael Steele will likely face a no-confidence vote after the election to replace former New York Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand March 31—whether or not the GOP is able to keep her seat, Republican sources tell Political Wire. Katon Dawson, who placed second in January's vote for RNC chairman, is stealthily organizing the vote with the backing of state party chiefs who want Steele out, according to the sources. More»

Candidates competing for chairman brag of networking chops

(NEWSER) - With the Republican National Committee voting for a new chairman today, the candidates have been busy competing not on ideological grounds but on who has more Facebook friends, and who's more adept at Twittering, the Wall Street Journal reports. In rebuilding the party, one strategist declared the top priority to be closing the technology gap that helped put Barack Obama in the White House—"winning the technology war with the Democrats." More»

Katon Dawson, candidate for RNC chair, resigned from SC club this summer

(NEWSER) - One of the candidates for chairman of the Republican National Committee belonged for more than a decade to a whites-only country club, Greg Sargent notes on Talking Points Memo. Katon Dawson, chairman of South Carolina’s Republican Party, resigned from the club in September as he was preparing to run for the national leadership, saying he’d been working against the no-blacks rule. More»

But most think his job's safe for now

(NEWSER) - CBS is floating a successor for Michael Steele who should make both sides of the aisle equally giddy: One Sarah Palin. Citing "talk in GOP circles," the network's top White House correspondent says, Palin is "the star of the Republican Party. She's the top endorser, top fundraiser—and now could be the party's top dog." More»