The Republican Party, walloped in the last two major national elections in 2006 and 2008, is a party suffering an identity crisis. Torn between fiscal and social conservatives, the party is not sure how to best rebound and try to gain seats in 2010. After all, a divided Republican Party without a coherent national agenda may not only find it difficult to defend their 2010 seats, but will also find it difficult to dislodge President Obama from the White House in 2012.
The recent election within the Republican Party for a new chairman to replace Mike Duncan was seen by political observers as an opportunity for the party to signify a change in direction and a chance to show voters that they had learned from their thrashing in November. After all, a party chairman’s responsibility is to be the media representative for his/her party, held build the infrastructure for future election races, and getting the base of the party excited about future elections. The election of Michael Steele, the first African-American Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman, sends mixed signals on how the party has interpreted its election results, but does send a signal as to how they plan to respond to the future Obama administration.
This topic brief will give extempers some background on Michael Steele, what his plans are for the Republican Party, and what advantages Steele offers the GOP in confronting the Obama machine.
Background
Before being elected to the RNC chairmanship, Michael Steele was best known among political junkies as the first African-American to be elected to the post of lieutenant governor of Maryland. As The Economist points out on January 31, 2009, Steele is the grandson of a sharecropper and his humble roots make him an attractive candidate to a party who has long urged the unfortunate to pull themselves up “by their bootstraps” and live the American dream.
Steele is also a graduate of John Hopkins University and received his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. Steele spent much of his work before entering politics in corporate law, especially in liability litigation.
Steele began working on political campaigns in the 1990s and rose through the Republican ranks in Maryland to such a degree that by December 2000 he was elected as chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, which was a first for any African-American. Steele would serve in this capacity until the 2002 elections when he was the running mate of Congressional Republican Robert Ehrlich in a narrow, but victorious gubernatorial election.
Although early polls showed that in 2006 Steele would run closely against Democratic candidate Ben Cardin for Maryland’s vacated Senate seat, Steele was drubbed on election day 55-44 in a race where he became one of the casualties of the toxic Republican brand. It also did not help Steele that during the campaign he was critical of some of President Bush’s policies, which hurt him with some Bush supporters in the state.
Plans
Former RNC Chairman Mike Duncan of Kentucky was often seen by Republican operatives as being quite inept in his position. Duncan was criticized as lacking a strong vision for the party and owed his position to maneuvering by Karl Rove and his operatives, who preferred to have the Bush White House play a leading role in the RNC as opposed to letting the RNC Chairman make critical campaign and organizational decisions. The overall election on January 30, 2009 featured five candidates, with Steele and Duncan being the most prominent. During the voting for RNC Chairman, Steele started to emerge as a front runner during the third round of balloting. He was finally elected in the sixth round, besting South Carolina Republican chairman Katon Dawson by a vote of 91-77.
Steele has signaled that as chairman he wants to rehabilitate the grassroots operations of the Republican Party. Part of the problem in 2006 and 2008 is that the Democrats have been more adept at using Internet technology and other organizational techniques to get their vote turnout numbers to higher levels than Republicans. These techniques have also expanded the fundraising base of the party and fired them up to a greater degree, although that can be expected considering that the Democrats had not occupied the White House in eight years. The emergence of political blogs in the last several years have also favored Democrats moreso than Republicans, although Republicans still enjoy an audience on talk radio, especially with Rush Limbaugh.
Also, Steele has already been a figure that has lots of television and media experience. In fact, during President Bush’s re-election campaign in 2004, Steele was tasked with the job of refuting Barack Obama’s speech at the Republican convention. While out of political office, Steele has made frequent appearances on Hannity and Colmes and Real Time with Bill Maher, appearances that are mandatory for a party chairman in order to get the party’s message out to voters. Steele has said that he plans to continue these appearances and increase them in order to rehabilitate the GOP brand name, something that Mike Duncan shied away from.
On matters of ideology, extempers should take note that they can expect Steele to fire some vicious shots across the bow towards the Obama administration. Steele has a history of not holding back on political remarks, such as ridiculing President Bush’s policies prior to his Senate run in 2006 whereby he called response to Katrina a “monumental failure.” Steele has already given an indication that he does not plan to be a bipartisan figure, believing confrontation is the best way to get the Republican Party back into power. However, confrontation does have the potential to alienate moderates, especially younger voters who the GOP failed miserably within the last election cycle.
Advantages
The first, and most obvious advantage that Steele has getting into confrontations with Obama is his ethnic background. While this brief is not suggesting that the Obama administration will use race as a campaign weapon, it does make it a bit easier for Steele to attack Obama’s policies due to the fact that he is African-American as well. However, extempers should not immediately argue in their speeches that Steele’s presence will bring more African-American voter support to the GOP. In fact, Steele has made this fact well known as he has suggested that the Republican Party needs to provide a credible alternative to African-American voters by attacking Democrats harder for their lack of support for such programs as school vouchers. Political observers agree and argue that the GOP cannot be “Democrat-lite” if they want to court the African-American vote.
Also, Steele does have several moderate positions that might appeal to independent voters. As the aforementioned edition of The Economist notes, Steele does not carry a gun and he has shown an independent streak in the past by criticizing faults made by the Bush administration in Iraq and in domestic policy areas. This moderation may increase his appeal to independents who the Republican Party is trying to court. However, Steele’s continued support for tax cuts as a solution to the economic problems facing the country may hurt the party among an electorate who seemingly endorses a more active governmental solution, although polls about the economic stimulus show that voters are turning against the legislation in greater numbers.
Another advantage is that Steele brings a great deal of campaign experience to the party. Steele understands from his work at the state level that winning races requires adequate fundraising, attractive candidates, and an understanding of local political trends. This explains why he has told local Republican groups to get ready to work ahead of the 2010 campaign season, demonstrating an understanding of the weakness in the GOP’s party machine. Furthermore, Steele’s work on the state level has also helped him make connections to other state party leaders, connections that are vital in developing a clear Republican strategy for the future.
The final advantage Steele brings to the Republican Party is his media experience. By being active figure in the media, Steele will be comfortable challenging Democratic opponents and will be a good face to get the message of the party out. It might even surprise new voters that the Republican Party has an African-American in a powerful position, so new interest might come to the party. In the past, Steele’s media performances have been quite good and it is clear that the Democrats will face a major challenge confronting him.
Yet despite these advantages, Steele will still inherit a party torn by division. He has also hinged his success as RNC Chairman on winning the New York House district of Kristen Gillibrand, who is replacing Hillary Clinton in the Senate and the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey. Furthermore, Steele is facing a situation of voter disillusion with his party, with 36% of voters in a recent Gallup poll identifying themselves as Democrats and a mere 28% as Republicans. According to The New York Times, this is the largest lead the Democrats have enjoyed in the poll since 1983. Thus, Steele has the job he wanted, but rebuilding the Republican Party will take more than a combative style, it will take new ideas and a new direction to take a party that is currently toxic to the average American voter.