Katon Dawson - RNC Chair?
Maybe. Just Maybe.
Interesting article from Chris Cillizza.
The Race Within the Republican Race
With Michigan’s Republican primary set for tomorrow and South Carolina and Florida ready to choose their candidate by the end of the month, it’s no secret that what happens in these three states could very well determine the GOP nominee.
But, even as the candidates for president stump in these crucial states, another intriguing battle is going on — the jockeying to be the next chairman of the Republican National Committee. Why? It just so happens that the three state party chairmen — Katon Dawson of South Carolina, Jim Greer of Florida and Saul Anuzis of Michigan — are the three most often mentioned candidate to head the RNC come 2009.
Although none of the three are openly running for the post — that would be unseemly after all — evidence exists that seems to point to their interest.
Take Anuzis’s invitation for national reporters to a “Drinks and Gab” session yesterday in Michigan. Or Dawson’s strident statement against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) during a campaign stop last week. “Senator Clinton’s run-of-the-mill Democrat rhetoric isn’t winning her friends in our state,” said Dawson. “If she manages to win her party’s nomination for president, she’ll follow in the footsteps of history’s forgettable footnotes like Walter Mondale, Mike Dukakis and John Kerry to landslide defeat in South Carolina.” Boo yah!
Of the trio, Dawson is the most blatant about his interest. “Certainly I’m looking at it,” he said in an interview with The Fix this afternoon, carefully noting he is not actively campaigning for the job. Of course, if he was campaigning he would note that he makes (and takes) more than 700 cell phone calls a month, that, unlike Greer and Anuzis, his chairmanship is a volunteer post, and that during his six-year tenure, Republican defeated an incumbent governor (Jim Hodges) and won two open U.S. Senate seats — one of which was held by a Democrat.
He also might mention that he has raised $15 million since becoming chairman and boast that his state party has more cash on hand than either Florida or Michigan despite being “a third of the size. (He, of course, mentioned all of these things during his chat with The Fix.)
Dawson said that the national party has a “brand problem” — comparing it to the pony express. Of his efforts in South Carolina, he said: “We’ve been winning here while a lot of people have been losing.”
January 15th, 2008 at 2:20 am
Katon could do for the national party what he has done for SC party…turn it into a big spending, large overnment bunch of self-interested fools.
Oh wait…they already are…so why would they need Katon?
As a Republican, I would like someone that can actually encourage conservatism. Not just talk about it.
And by the way, boasting about beating Jim Hodges ain’t exactly the big time.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Katon Dawson has a penchant for saying unintelligent things, such as “the Democrats want America to surrender to the terrorists.” It’s only a matter of time before someone calls him out on that. Dawson might appeal to the GOP base, but I don’t think more moderate or pragmatic voters will be impressed with him.
January 15th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Personally, I hope Katon gets the job. If, as seems likely, a Democrat is sitting in the White House after next Jan. 20, Katon’s likely to find that his experience as a (big)mouthpiece for the ruling part in a one-party state isn’t very helpful.