Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, a prominent African-American GOPer, declared his candidacy for chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) on Thursday night.

Steele had decided to enter the race earlier this week and had privately told close associates about his intentions. He spent the last four days making phone calls to RNC members to make a personal appeal for their vote.

He made the announcement on Fox News’s “Hannity and Colmes” Thursday night. Host Sean Hannity threw his support to Steele during the show.

In a statement explaining his reasons for running, Steele urged Republicans not to interpret Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) White House win and the gains Democrats made in Congress as a sign that voters have shifted their ideological leanings to the left. He called on the party to approach the future by offering solutions based on its conservative values.  

“The Republican Party must present a vision for the future of America that relies on our conservative values and core principles,” Steele said in the statement. “It is wrong to believe the voters have suddenly become liberal. They have just lost any sense of confidence that the Republican Party holds the answers to their problems.

“We must face the fact that our party has failed in recent years to live up to our own principles -- we have failed to be ‘solutions oriented’ in addressing the concerns of all Americans,” he continued.

Steele’s candidacy gives Republicans a chance to change the image of their party. The party’s presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), trailed Obama badly in votes from African-Americans and Hispanics, according to voter exit polls.

With McCain bruised by his loss and President Bush heading back to Texas, the party has no clear leader poised to step in and rebuild its broken image.

Steele is one of the party’s few high-profile minority members. He heads the conservative grassroots group GOPAC, founded by Newt Gingrich, and formerly served as chairman of the Maryland Republican party. He lost a campaign for Senate in 2006 to then-Rep. Ben Cardin, a Democrat.

Steele spoke at the Republican National Convention in September and periodically stands in for Hannity on his Fox News show.  

Steele said Republicans should be solutions-oriented on such issues as education and helping the poor and not just fall back on the well-worn arguments of less taxes and smaller government.

“I want Republicans to get back to winning elections, not just for the sake of winning, but for the sake of our country’s future,” he said. “Most Americans today see a Republican Party that defines itself by what it is against rather than what it is for.”

Steele’s time as a state party chairman could come in handy in the chairmanship race. There are 168 RNC committeemen and -women around the country who have a vote in the January chairmanship election.

Steele enters an already crowded field of candidates vying for the post.

RNC Chairman Mike Duncan of Kentucky is interested in keeping his position, and appears to have support from many RNC members reluctant to take marching orders from Washington insiders, who have pushed for a more dynamic candidate.

South Carolina’s party chairman, Katon Dawson, has been running for weeks and plans to hold a conservative powwow for RNC members this weekend in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Saul Anuzis, the Michigan state party chairman, announced his candidacy by a Twitter feed earlier this week. Other possible contenders include former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.), Florida party chairman Jim Greer, Office of Management and Budget Director and former Rep. Jim Nussle (Iowa), Texas Republican Party Chairwoman Tina Benkiser and Chip Saltsman, who ran former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign.