Hotline After Dark -- Party In The City Where The Heat Is On

With a lot of focus on '12, all eyes were on the RGA's annual conference in Miami:

MS Gov. Haley Barbour (R): "The news media down here maybe want to be talking about 2012. The vast majority of the people, and all the governors at this conference, we're talking about 2010. ... The 2009 and '10 gubernatorial elections and congressional elections in '10. That's what have to have our eye on if we're going to rebuild this party. ... Success in 2010 will have a whole lot more to do with our chances to elect a Republican president in 2012 than any talk or campaign or anything else down here about an election that's four years away" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 11/12).

LA Gov. Bobby Jindal (R): "There are dozens of Republican governors here. ... It's always exciting to me to hear from other governors how they're balancing their budgets, how they're cutting taxes, how they're strengthening their ethics laws" ("On the Record," FNC, 11/12).

Bloomberg's Carlson: "The governors are wanting to talk about 2010, because the number 2012 is code for talking about Sarah Palin, which was where they do not want to go. Her saying that she doesn't represent herself, she represents an entire movement that's going to save the Republican party is just what they quietly don't want to happen. If they had their way, she wouldn't be here tomorrow" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 11/12).

Palin spoke with CNN's Blitzer in Miami.

Palin, on her criticisms of Pres.-elect Obama during the campaign season: "Well, I still am concerned about that association with Bill Ayers. And if anybody still wants to talk about it, I will. ... It's still fair to talk about it. However the campaign is over. That chapter is closed."

After the jump, more Palin, Gingrich on RNC chair and the latest on MN SEN.

(KATHERINE LEHR)

Palin, asked if she's ready to help Obama: "Absolutely. Especially on energy independence, energy security that we need for this nation. ... I'm more than willing and able to help President-elect Obama to start tapping into the domestic solutions that we have now so we can quit being so reliant on foreign sources of energy."

Palin, asked if she would like to fill Sen. Ted Stevens' (R-AK) seat should that become an issue: "I feel I have a contract with Alaskans to serve. I've got two more years in my term. I'm going to serve Alaskans to the best of my ability. At this point it is as governor. Now if something shifted dramatically and if it were, if it were acknowledged up there that I could be put to better use for my state in the U.S. Senate, I would certainly consider that but that would take a special election and everything else. I am not one to appoint myself or a member of my family to take the place of any vacancy."

Palin, on whether Pres. Bush may have hurt the GOP in this campaign: " You know I think that there is so much blame to go around, if you will, in terms of why it was that the Republican ticket did not win. ... We didn't get the Hispanic vote, that really hurt; we were outspent tremendously because of course Obama took the private financing, John McCain stuck to his promise of just keeping the public financing of the campaign, so greatly outspent; Barack Obama was a great campaigner, he had a very strong organization. So many reasons, I'm not going to look backwards there again and point to just President Bush and the administration as to why our ticket didn't prevail" ("Situation Room," CNN, 11/12).

Palin also appeared on "LKL."

Palin, on dealing with Stevens: "I'm not a dictator. I'm not going to yank anything out from under the will of the people."

Palin, on whether she will run for POTUS in '12: "I'm not going to close any doors of opportunity that perhaps are open out there in the future. Not having a crystal ball, I do not know what those opportunities will be. If I have to call an audible down the road here and circumstances change and the door is open for me to do so, it would be something that I would take that challenge on, that responsibility if I believe that it is in the nation's best interests."

Palin, on McCain: "I still say he's the man" ("LKL," CNN, 11/12).

MADE OF STEELE

Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich was on "Hannity & Colmes," where he was asked about RNC Chair.

FNC's Hannity: "You're not interested in it, but there's somebody that I am interested in running it, somebody who's very reform-minded, like the governors you've mentioned, a guy by the name of Michael Steele. Do you think the Republican Party needs to change, and what are your thoughts on Michael?"

Gingrich: "I think Michael Steele is a great, great talent. He certainly would offer the kind of vivid, strong voice that we could use, and I think that the party would do very well if he ends up being chairman. There are a number of other strong people who are running. The chairman of South Carolina is very effective, good friend of mine, Saul Anuzis. The chairman from Michigan is running. But Michael Steele certainly is going to be in the front ranks as one of the two or three leading contenders."

Hannity: "I know you're running American Solutions and health care reform, but a lot of people have brought your name up as somebody who might run for president in 2012, so I figured probably today would be a good day to announce."

Gingrich: "Look, I'm going to spend the next two years doing everything I can to develop new solutions. ... In January of 2011 you and I can have this conversation about the future but not between now and then."

FNC's Colmes: "In 2011, though, you will seriously consider it?"

Gingrich: "Absolutely."

Colmes: "In terms of the RNC, there was a report earlier that you were interested in that job. ... Did you step aside for the sake of Michael Steele? Did you want that at one point?"

Gingrich: "No, I was asked by some friends under what circumstance I'd consider it, and I thought about it for several years. Calista and I discussed it, and several of my closes friends and advisors, and I realized that I think what I'm doing at American Solutions with a new generation of big ideas and what we're doing at the Center for Health Transformation in fundamentally rethinking our entire health care system, I need to focus on getting those two done. I think if we do them correctly, we're going to have a big impact not just on the Republican Party, but on building a tri-partisan majority of Democrats, Republicans, and independents. And I'm happy to work with whoever wins the national Republican chairmanship" (FNC, 11/12).

MARK MY WORDS

MN Sec/State Mark Ritchie spoke with MSNBC's Madddow about the MN SEN recount.

Maddow: "It seems from outside the state that there is an effort underway to de-legitimize the Minnesota recount before it even happens. And they are doing it in part by smearing you as untrustworthy and partisan. Do you think that is the strategy here?"

Ritchie: "Well, I think it's normal in any kind of high-emotion situation like this. ... Taking political hits is part of the territory. It comes from both parties sometimes. But we're just heading right into this recount and we hope to be done before Christmas."

Maddow: "Have there been any irregularities or signs of potential tampering that you have been worried about yet, thus far in the counting process?"

Ritchie: "Not yet. But keep in mind, we have not started the recount. ... That counting process will begin totally in public. There will be challengers from both campaigns. Any ballot that the challengers do not agree with the election officials' determination of the intent of the voter go into a challenge pile, and all of those come back to the State Canvassing Board in December" (MSNBC, 11/12).

FNC's Jenkins also caught up with Ritchie. Portions of the interview aired last night on "On the Record."

Ritchie: "The Coleman campaign and all campaigns enter this process at a very different place than I do And I've said many times that campaigns, all campaigns, are out to win, win, and win. That's their goal. And win at any cost is how most campaigns operate. Our job as the Office of the Secretary of State is to determine on an accurate and transparent basis what the citizens wanted to do. I expect to be attacked by the campaigns, both of them."

Jenkins: "In one case, Minneapolis elections director found 32 ballots in the back seat of her car 72 hours afterwards. What happened there?"

Ritchie: "Well, in that case, that's been reported in news media all over the country, but it's simply not true. Minnesota law in the case of absentee ballots, absentee ballots must be received on Election Day or before. Some absentee ballots, especially from our soldiers overseas, our military personnel, if they come in late in the day they are taken out to the polling places. And in Minneapolis some polling places were closed. Those ballots were never lost. They were never in the election judge's car, although that gets said. So that's part of the urban myth. But those ballots were received in time" (FNC, 11/12).

MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) also commented on the situation.

Pawlenty: "Under Minnesota law, the secretary of state has almost exclusive authority over this process. ... The recount itself will be done in December. I'm sure there will be some litigation after that. But the system in Minnesota has a tradition and a reputation for being clean and fair and transparent. We want to keep it that way. There have been a couple concerning developments. ... So we want to make sure that the process is secure, that it is transparent, and that the result are what they're supposed to be" ("1600," MSNBC, 11/12).

More Pawlenty: "I know Mark Ritchie. He is a partisan on the other side of the aisle, as I am as governor. He is trying his best, I think, to conduct this fairly. The laws in Minnesota have certain limitations around this. There is no evidence that he or anyone else has had actual wrongdoing. What we're saying is this process has resulted in some strange irregularities. Statistical irregularities, and it is some suggestion that perhaps something's amiss" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 11/12).

Roll Call's Kondracke: "The Republican National Committee is saying that this guy Mark Ritchie, the secretary of state, is the left wing version of Katherine Harris of Florida fame. Now, is that the Republican National Committee implication saying Katherine Harris stole the 2000 election for George Bush? That's the implication of it" ("Special Report," FNC, 11/12).