Heading into the RNC meeting and election this week, the Hotline reports that Wisconsin GOP chairman Reince Priebus remains the frontrunner in the race for RNC chairman. The winner needs 85 of the 168 RNC votes, and Priebus has 38 publicly declared supporters, while former Michigan GOP chairman and current Michigan committeeman Saul Anuzis has 14; former Missouri chairman and RNC co-chairman Ann Wagner has 14; and former Bush administration official and RNC official Maria Cino has 12. Michael Steele has 17, but a majority of RNC members have publicly pledged to vote for someone other than him. The supporters of Anuzis, Cino, and Wagner could band together behind one of those candidates to really give Priebus a run for his money during the balloting.
While Priebus is the frontrunner, he has not answered the central question about his candidacy. Priebus claims to be running for chairman because the RNC was mismanaged under Michael Steele, while Priebus served as the RNC’s general counsel. So what, if anything, did Priebus do at the RNC to right the course before the election? Did he tell Michael Steele to spend more time fundraising and less time on TV? Did he support the RNC’s giving money to U.S. territories?
