Members of the Republican National Committee are breaking precedent to call for a special meeting of the body without the support of the Washington-based RNC, according to a letter obtained by The Hill.

A petition circulated by North Dakota Republican Party Chairman Gary Emineth would call the Republican National Committee to order on Jan. 6, as candidates to chair the RNC are in Washington for two other campaign events. Emineth, in an e-mail to RNC members, says he wants to provide a forum for RNC members to hear from those candidates in advance of the late-January committee meeting.

Picking a new chairman “is one of the most important things we’ll do as the national committee,” he told The Hill in an interview Tuesday morning.

The six major RNC chairman candidates will be in Washington for a debate Jan. 5 at the National Press Club, sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) and broadcast on C-SPAN. The following day, each candidate will get a chance to make a pitch to the Conservative Steering Committee, a group led by Indiana National Committeeman Jim Bopp and three other members of the RNC.

Neither venue, Emineth argues, allows the majority of RNC members to ask their own questions of the candidates.

Holding an RNC meeting without an official call from RNC headquarters in Washington is extremely rare. Morton Blackwell, Virginia's national committeeman and a long-time member of the party's Rules Committee, said he couldn't recall such a meeting.

“To my knowledge, there has not been a meeting called using this perfectly legitimate process,” Blackwell told The Hill Tuesday morning.

Emineth in the letter to members argues it is appropriate to ask for the meeting given that current chairman Robert “Mike” Duncan is an announced candidate for reelection.

Though some see the special RNC meeting as a way to blunt the impact of the Conservative Study Committee, Emineth told The Hill Tuesday morning that the goal is to give voting members more of a chance to feel out the candidates. Emineth himself is a member of the conservative group.

ATR has invited every member of the committee to its debate, though a moderator will ask the questions. The Conservative Steering Committee has about 76 members, just short of half of the 168 who serve on the national committee.

“At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what the public thinks; it matters what 168 of us think,” Emineth said Tuesday.

Party rules say Emineth must collect 16 signatures from 16 different states. By Tuesday morning, Emineth had received about a half-dozen signatures, he said, and he planned to spend the day working the phones to build more support.

Reached late Monday, two RNC members who favor the meeting said they would not sign the letter because others from their states were doing so. Both expressed optimism that Emineth would reach the required number of signatures by the Dec. 26 deadline in order to get the meeting called.

Candidates for RNC chairman, nervous about irritating any voters, have not rushed to publicly endorse the idea of a special meeting. Aides to several candidates privately said that the candidates would attend if one were called.