Outgoing New Hampshire governor Steve Merrill — the only major contender for the Republican party chairmanship who is not a member of the national committee — is pursuing a “gubernatorial” strategy to round up the support of the 83 members needed to win the RNC’s Jan. 17 vote. His success with this approach is less than complete. RNC members are being summoned to the mansions of their respective governors, where they are finding not just their own governor but Merrill, there to lobby for himself. In states where the committee member owes fealty to the sitting governor, this has garnered some new commitments. However, in many states the committee member’s tenure precedes the governor’s, and the committee member doesn’t like the surprise meeting. Several members have drawn the conclusion that if Merrill wins, the governors will be consulted first on political decisions by the RNC, not the state chairmen.
To thwart Merrill, talks continue between the self-described “outsider” campaigns of Texas chairman Tom Pauken, Ohio chairman Bob Bennett, and Michigan committeeman Chuck Yob about an alliance. An attempt is also being made to add Colorado committeeman Jim Nicholson to this group. These four candidates have enough committed delegates to put together the necessary votes to elect a new chairman. The stumbling block is that each candidate sees himself as top dog, and none wants to back out.
