This race is getting interesting… here’s a letter Ken Blackwell has sent to the RNC committee members and released to the press:
After prayerful consideration, I have decided to become a candidate for Chairman of the Republican National Committee. I write today to ask for your vote and endorsement.
I reside in Cincinnati, Ohio, where I formerly served as a council member and mayor. Afterwards, I ran four times for statewide office in Ohio. I was elected as State Treasurer once and Secretary of State twice … and lost a race for governor. Including primaries, I have run for public office 17 times, winning on 13 of those occasions.
…
I am a member of the board of directors of the National Rifle Association, the National Taxpayers Union and the Club for Growth.
…
The RNC needs a more basic and more comprehensive change of course than my competitors have thus far presented or, frankly, envisioned.
It is time to completely remake the Republican Party by returning to our core philosophy (limited government, traditional values and a strong defense), reaching voters more effectively (by better utilization of technology, targeting and voter identification and turnout), and
reorganizing the RNC itself (spending smarter, replacing staff and consultants and modernizing our fundraising infrastructure).…
Voter registration must be a major emphasis for the Republican Party. Of course, we start at a competitive disadvantage with the Democrats and ACORN since we are strictly limited to registering people who actually exist. But here is an outline of how we can catch up:
Hire a large team of coordinators to work with churches across the country to help them register the members of their congregations who are not registered to vote.
Expend an unprecedented amount of RNC funding to build vibrant College Republican chapters on every major university campus in the nation and use those chapters as a base to register young people to join the Republican Party.
Hire teams of workers to walk door-to-door in targeted neighborhoods to register voters.
Honestly, I was with him until the very end there. Then it kind of crashed and burned for me.
Who would have thought three or four years ago that we would have an RNC Chair race between Michael Steele, Ken Blackwell, Katon Dawson, and Saul Anuzis – with Chip Saltsman waiting to officially jump in as well?
In other RNC Chair news, Mike Duncan has written an Op-Ed piece for Politico outlining his accomplishments as Chair and claiming they are the way to move the party forward, in the strongest indication yet that he is likely to seek re-election.
Also, five state GOP chairs have endorsed Anuzis’ candidacy: the chairs from CT, NE, NV, NJ, and the Virgin Islands.
Again, the committee members vote in January.
December 8th, 2008 at 1:50 am
What don’t you like near the end there? All of those points of action would be needed to help level the playing field against the progressive GOTV effort.
The only thing I can think which seems shaky for the non-so-cons would be the religious outreach, but remember back in 94 with the Contract With America. The Ralph Reed led Christian Coalition was over a million strong and was very crucial in turning the house red during the Clinton years.
I’m not saying we need to go back to that exact template, but it’s crucial to connect with the religiously and politically active.
December 8th, 2008 at 1:52 am
Race war! Kidding aside, he’s ok.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:02 am
Registration drives are a dealbreaker?
December 8th, 2008 at 6:36 am
I think Matt C is taking exception to the hiring teams of workers to register voters in targeted areas.
I’d only say, hire if there is a lack of volunteers. Or hire an oversight/coordinator to make sure those efforts are most focused where they will get the best results.
December 8th, 2008 at 7:06 am
This would be good.
December 8th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Ehh. Does he know how to win? He didn’t do too well in Ohio in 2006. Plus, This guy is a total hard-core so-con. I don’t like that he started his letter of intent with, “After prayerful consideration”. It just seems weird. I have no problem with a so-con in this position but can we not have someone so willing to invoke the Lord so easily? Come on.
December 8th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Ehh. Does he know how to win? He didn’t do too well in Ohio in 2006.
As his letter pointed out, he’s won 13 of the 17 elections he’s run in. I’d hardly blame his loss in 2006 entirely on him. He was running in a very bad atmosphere in Ohio after the Taft governorship and the ethical lapses of some of the Republicans in Ohio during that time.
December 8th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Yeah. I know. I don’t blame him for Taft’s troubles, but Blackwell lost by 24 points. A candidate with wide appeal should have made it closer than that. Hell, even McCain got within 7 points when Bush’s approval was only slightly better than Taft’s.
So I ask, can Blackwell help us win or is it just another Palinesque “Let’s amp up the base and turn everyone else off” kind of thing?
December 8th, 2008 at 8:35 am
Great ideas from Blackwell. Especailly trying to increase the college republicans. Mike Duncan has got to go. I cannot think of one thing that he did these past four years to help increase the GOP numbers, not one new message to make the GOP brand more clear, and no new ideas to bring in the youth and african american vote.
I hope whoever votes on the RNC chairman position looks at their actual records of accomplishment and not just their names, money ties, and who they socialize with. Let’s get someone who can fire up the party!
December 8th, 2008 at 9:01 am
To clarify: Blackwell’s voter registration efforts didn’t do it for me because it seemed like the same Karl Rovian tactics of “expand the base deeper” instead of “expand the base wider”. Blackwell wants to reach out to register more evangelical Christians (in a move that is borderline illegal and potentially sacrifices churches’ non-profit statuses) when they already vote in larger numbers than almost any other voting group. And the other two ideas is just a “throw money at the problem” approach of sending some shotgun scattershot out there to see who wants to be a Republican. He is basically unimaginative when it comes to expanding the party, and his direction would seem to indicate he wants a further takeover by the religious wing of the party at a time when we really need to emphasize our fiscal and economic strengths more than anything else, and that he wants to spend gobs upon gobs of money for little in return.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Matt C,
Those are exactly my worries about this guy.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:28 am
#10,11 — Matt C and Adam: I agree with your concerns. In particular, I find the church proposal to be particularly distasteful and I’m not sure that it is even legal from the churches standpoint. Is it possible that Blackwell is Karl Rove’s candidate in this race? Don’t anyone forget that these RNC contests are as much about (maybe more about) who is going to benefit from the $ millions that the RNC directs to particular consultants and “service providers” than anything else.
December 8th, 2008 at 10:18 am
No. No. No. No Blackwell.
Wonder if he’s a stalking horse for a white guy in the race or something.
December 8th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Terrible Choice. I voted for Strickland over Blackwell as Governor. He’d destroy the GOP Nation wide just like he did to the GOP here in Ohio.
NO BLACKWELL
December 8th, 2008 at 11:38 am
No, please no. Blackwell would be the WORST RNC chairman of all the candidates we have to choose from. I worked for another Republican candidate in the GOP primary to try and stop Blackwell. He is exactly what our party DOESN’T need right now. He is stuck in the old GOP world, regardless of what he says in his letter, and would move us backward not forward.
No, no, no. I am agreeing with Alex.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
FYI — non-partisan Church voter registration drives are perfectly legal.
December 8th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Billy,
Yes, but hiring people whose jobs are to specifically coordinate voter registration drives with churches is borderline legal at best.
Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS tax code prohibits tax-exempt organizations, such as churches, from intervening in political campaigns or using tax-deductible contributions (such as tithes and offerings) for a political purpose.
Overtly coordinating with a major political party for voter registration drives specifically aimed at church members would seem to violate both principles, although you could try and argue otherwise (and most churches and pastors would). At best, it violates the spirit of the law if not the letter of the law.
December 8th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I think that Blackwell could provide the GOP with a diverse and vibrant face.
December 8th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
The right person for the job is Karl Rove, but he’s not running. Saul Anuzsis is a distant second, but he IS running. He has the temperament, will, and moxie to start rebuilding the GOP and leading the way forward to a 2010 comeback.