If Not Ken Blackwell, Keep Mike Duncan
RedState endorses Ken Blackwell for Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
While RedState’s endorsement in the race for Chairman of the Republican National Committee does not set us apart from many of our colleagues in the online right movement, our second choice does. Nonetheless, we absolutely are committed to this fact: if the 168 members of the RNC cannot agree to choose Ken Blackwell for RNC Chairman, they should then keep Mike Duncan in place.
We make no secret that we are conservatives before we are Republicans. Ken Blackwell is a conservative. He is not just a conservative, but of all the men in the race, Ken Blackwell has run and won elected office on his own.
In addition, Ken Blackwell got into the race for Chairman by surrounding himself with extremely competent, principled people. This is a sign both of his understanding the needs of the RNC and of his commitment to the cause.
Make no mistake, with Ken Blackwell as Chairman of the RNC there will never, so long as he is there, be another Lincoln Chafee primary defense. Ken Blackwell is fundamentally a conservative first and knows the party grassroots extremely well.
We are also mindful that Ken Blackwell might not be able to muster the votes for RNC Chairman. The 168 members have a majority who are not, perhaps, as committed to conservatism as Ken Blackwell, and Blackwell is not without his enemies from his years in Ohio politics.
We believe strongly that should Ken Blackwell not have enough votes to be RNC Chairman on the first ballot, Mike Duncan deserves the votes on the second ballot.
There are many right of center activists who are opposed to Mike Duncan. These activists cannot throw out the President as head of the party, but they can throw out Mike Duncan. We share their frustration with the status quo, especially given how little the GOP House and Senate leadership changed after yet another disastrous election cycle. And we share the concern that Duncan is not a particularly compelling TV spokesman for the party. But there are three points that underscore why blaming Duncan is wrong.
First, Mike Duncan did not arrive at the RNC until 2007. During that year, whether you like it or not, Mike Duncan’s job was not about getting Republicans elected. It was about bolstering the President.
There is a new job description. Duncan understands that. Once beholden to the President, he is now beholden to 168 committee men and women. Duncan gets that.
Second, most of the criticisms against Mike Duncan are uninformed and misplaced. That the RNC did not function as it should have in 2008 had much more to do with the McCain campaign than anything the RNC did. It was the McCain campaign calling the shots and consuming the resources.
Many of the criticisms leveled at Mike Duncan have to do with the RNC’s failure to innovate in 2008 compared to Barack Obama. The RNC had in place and was ready to deploy the tools to innovate. Unfortunately, the McCain campaign opposed using the resources Duncan had committed.
Third, in key areas of vending and contracting at the RNC, many documents were signed before Mike Duncan could get a team in place. It may not be well known, but it is a fact that Duncan, by and large, had to live with decisions made before he got there.
In fact, there is only one area where Duncan could fully stretch his legs as Chairman of the Party unhindered by either a de facto party head in the White House and a Presidential campaign calling the shots — fundraising. In that area, Duncan thrived.
We believe Ken Blackwell would be an excellent, innovative choice for Chairman of the RNC who would run the party competently and conservatively. We encourage the 168 members of the RNC to vote for him. We are also mindful Mike Duncan has not really had a chance to stretch his legs and fully deploy his RNC team, given the dynamics of a Presidential campaign year.
If the members of the RNC will not support Blackwell, they should give Mike Duncan two years to be his own man.
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