RNC Members Standing By Their Man, For Now

The drumbeat of regret has begun. Or has it?

In the conservative blogophere, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is persona non grata after taking on radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. And high profile conservative writers are penning pieces with titles like 'The Growing Republican Unhappiness With Michael Steele.'

It seems that Steele, who in his first month in the job has mystified his brethren by proposing a hip hop strategy for rebirthing the Republican Party and saying he would target GOP senators who broke with their party to back Pres. Obama's stimulus package, went a step too far when he took on Limbaugh last weekend for being "ugly" and "incendiary." But RNC members who anointed Steele in January from a crowded field of chairman hopefuls said in interviews with On Call that they aren't ready to abandon the former Maryland lieutenant governor. They're miffed, no doubt, but with the GOP leaderless, rudderless and suffering in public opinion polls, the RNC members say they need an effective chairman in the job, not a messy do-over election, and that it's time for Steele to go underground and do his job.

"We did not elect a chairman to take on our own party," said Donna Lou Gosney, a West Virginia committeewoman. "The liberals and the Democrats have given us enough to worry about. There are just so many things that need our attention right now and need a united party."

Brad White, the Mississipi Republican Party chairman, said that Steele, who had a contract with FOX News, is very comfortable on television and that sometimes when a person gets too comfortable on the air, gaffes and misstatements flow more easily.

"I'm not ready to indict Chairman Steele of being incapable of the type of leadership that we need," White said. "I am a firm believer that sometimes people say things that sometimes come out wrong. I believe that the party needs to communicate effectively to our country who we are, what we stand for, how we translate our philosophy into public policy. I think that's what his job should be right now."

Steele's Limbaugh foot-and-mouth moment is just the latest in a string of public missteps for the former chairman of the Maryland Republican Party. As a candidate for Senate in 2006, Steele compared embryonic stem cell research to Nazi medical experimentation during a speech in front of the Baltimore Jewish Council. Also during that campaign, he trashed Pres. Bush and the GOP during an "off the record" meeting with national reporters that found its way into print. In both cases, Steele spent precious days subsequently apologizing.

But this go-round, the stakes for Steele -- and the party -- are higher. He can't afford to let his ego get in the way of rebuilding the beleaguered party in the post George W. Bush era. One Republican insider said that Steele's actions over the last month are "confirming the concerns that people had" when they first considered his candidacy for RNC chief -- that he would put personal interest over party building.

"I think there's a lot of head scratching going on," said the GOPer of the Steele operation, which has yet to fill critical RNC positions from chief of staff to political director to finance director. "And they look undisciplined. They look unorganized, and they look unprepared. They need to focus on the nuts and bolts of getting the RNC up and running and doing the basic things the RNC should be doing and stop shooting themselves in the foot. I think what you're hearing is just a great deal of frustration in town. Thus far the product has been less than acceptable."

Steele, the insider said, needs to focus on the critical grassroots responsibilities of being chairman: fundraising, recruiting candidates and rebuilding the party's technology operation.

Inside-the-beltway folks may be disappointed in Steele's performance thus far, but the RNC's members are reluctant to criticize. They were, after all, responsible for giving him the job. Steele won the election after six ballots in seven hours of voting, beating out, among others, the former RNC chairman, Michael Duncan.

Pat Brady, the Illinois committeeman, said members knew when they backed Steele, 50, that they were voting for a different kind of leader. Steele's candidacy represented youth and diversity. Brady said that outside of the Washington establishment Republicans are still intrigued by and supportive of the new chairman.

"It's certainly not what we've seen in the past for the RNC chairman, but that's not what we voted for," he said of Steele's public statements. "We voted for something different and something more broadly appealing."

Chris Healy, the Connecticut GOP chairman, agreed.

"Republicans fighting Republicans always seems to get an airing in the media," he said. "I really don't see this as anything that undermines Mike Steele's credentials or his ability to lead the party. He was elected by the committee, and he's our chairman, and I think everything I've heard from him has been very positive."

Steele, meanwhile, will hear privately from the party's 168 members Friday during a conference call.

(JENNIFER SKALKA)