Steele becomes first African-American RNC chairman
Posted by John Malloy on 01/30/2009
Michael Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor, was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee on Friday.
Steele, the first African-American to hold the post, defeated South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson, 91-77, in the final round of voting among the RNC’s 168 members. Only 86 votes were needed.
“This is our opportunity. I cannot do this by myself,” he told the crowd at the annual RNC meeting Friday. “God bless you, and God bless our party. … It’s going to be a new day.”
Steele also told his fellow party members that it will be a “great honor to spar” with President Obama.
For the duration of his campaign, Steele fought perceptions that he was too moderate to lead the party because of his blue-state roots and his former membership in the Republican Leadership Council, a group that sought to curb the influence of social conservatives in the party.
“For so long, we’ve allowed the Democrats to define us, we’ve allowed the media to define us, and so it’s important for us to begin to establish with clarity who we are, what we believe as we begin to go out and take, I think, a brand new message to the American people,” he said Friday.
Watch Steele’s remarks to the RNC »
Steele brings a national profile to the committee, having shot to fame in the political world during an underdog Senate bid in 2006 distinguished by a series of clever TV commercials. He has since become a fixture on cable talk shows, experience that boosted his reputation as the best communicator among the field of RNC candidates.
Earlier Friday, Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan, who was elected to lead the committee in 2007, dropped his re-election bid, telling committee members: “Obviously the winds of change are blowing here at the RNC.”
Duncan rose to address the committee after three disappointing rounds of balloting in the chairman’s election. He bled votes on every successive ballot, his support trickling to the other candidates in the race.
Despite the sometimes contentious nature of the campaign and criticism that the party suffered with him at the helm, Duncan told the crowd the race had been worth it.
“I thought this would be good for the party,” he said. “And I think it has been.”
Duncan earned a noisy round of applause when he said running the committee “has truly been the highlight of my life.”
Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell also ended his run Friday, throwing his support to Steele, a fellow African-American candidate.
Blackwell had been in last place after four rounds of voting…
www.cnn.com
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