Showdown over Steele dominates RNC gathering

[Geee]

Washington Times:

Top GOP officials fear the White House could slip through their fingers next year unless a new Republican National Committee chairman of integrity and managerial competence emerges as the victor in Friday's elections at Maryland's National Harbor resort, just down the Potomac from Washington.

Incumbent RNC Chairman Michael Steele faces formidable opposition as state party officials gather for the three-day annual winter meeting which officially begins Wednesday, with many unhappy over Mr. Steele's record running the GOP's national governing body and chief fundraising apparatus over the last two years. Key for the next chairman, they say, will be the ability to revive the RNC by bringing major donors back to the fold.

"The new chairman will have to be able to raise far more money and manage it far more competently," said Tennessee RNC member John Ryder. "The amounts raised this time are not enough for the next cycle - and unless you show competence with the money you do raise, you will have no credibility with donors."

Mr. Steele has staunchly defended his tenure and refused to step aside, pointing primarily to major Republican gains at the polls since his election, including breakthrough wins on Capitol Hill and in statehouses around the country in November.