Steele likely to survive latest controversy

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele seemed likely to hold onto his job Tuesday after weathering a weekend of criticism from fellow Republicans.

GOP lawmakers continued to distance themselves from Steele’s remarks suggesting Afghanistan was a war of choice, but stopped short of calling for his resignation. Even some of Steele’s chief critics suggested he would survive the controversy.

Steele, for his part, seemed to be planning a low-key week that would keep him out of the spotlight.

He’ll speak to volunteers of the Colorado Republican Party on Thursday, but the event is closed to the media. Steele also canceled a planned speaking engagement at the Aspen Ideas Festival this week, though the conference’s organizers cautioned that speaker cancellations aren’t unheard of.

Steele reached out to Republican leaders including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) over the weekend to explain his comments at a fundraiser last week. The comments that

Afghanistan was President Barack Obama’s war of choice and that a land war in Asia should be avoided seemed out of line with Republican positions.
Cantor said Tuesday he hoped Steele would stay on as chairman.

“I think that Michael Steele, in his role as chairman, he’s got to keep focused on the things that a party chair does,” Cantor said on the Fox Business Network.

“You know as well as I that the Republican National Committee and the party itself is there to provide support and to raise money. And that’s the job of an RNC chairman, and Michael Steele has done a lot in that area,” Cantor said.

Even Republicans critical of Steele have acknowledged it would be difficult to dump the party’s chairman four months ahead of a midterm election in which the GOP hopes to win back the House. Replacing Steele could throw the party’s infrastructure and fundraising establishment into disarray.

“It’s very hard to force a chairman out of his position,” former South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson told The Wall Street Journal on Monday.

“I don’t sense they want the distraction,” said Dawson, who challenged Steele for the leadership post.

Firing Steele would require a two-thirds vote among the RNC’s 168 voting members, a tough threshold for Steele’s opponents.

Republicans can more easily rid themselves of Steele after the election, as his tenure runs until January. Steele would then have to win a new RNC election to remain as chairman.

Former North Dakota GOP Chairman Gary Emineth, who resigned that position last Friday, announced Tuesday morning in a Fox interview that he would look to challenge Steele for the chairmanship.

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