Word: republican
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...selection on Friday of Michael Steele, 50, as the Republican National Committee's next chairman is remarkable not merely because he is the first African American to head the party of Lincoln. The former Maryland lieutenant governor's selection is an acknowledgment by the party's leadership that the GOP must quickly recast itself if it is to remain relevant to an increasingly diverse electorate no longer moved by divisive social issues...
...understands the importance of having candidates who appeal to different constituencies without promoting a monolithic agenda," says Kellie Ferguson, executive director of Republican Majority for Choice, a Washington-based group of moderate conservatives. (A Roman Catholic, Steele personally opposes abortion.) She added, "Hopefully, he will have an open door with social moderates and conservative Republicans and bring everyone together under what will truly be a big tent...
Steele won the race for the RNC's chairmanship on the fifth ballot by a vote of 91 to 77 against Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, who was hobbled by his previous membership in an all-white country club. At one point, one of Steele's rivals was Ken Blackwell, an African American and a former Ohio secretary of state, who was widely viewed as too dogmatically conservative to head a party desperate for moderation and who eventually threw his support behind Steele. The original slate of candidates included Tennessee GOP chairman Chip Saltsman...
...been improbable. He was born in Prince George County, a Maryland suburb of Washington, and for three years studied to be a Catholic priest. Eventually, he graduated from Georgetown University's Law Center and embarked on a career in corporate law. He also became active in Maryland's Republican Party. As one of the few blacks in the GOP, he stood out at a time when party officials were keenly interested in cultivating African-American support. In 2000, he was elected state GOP chairman, and two years later he was elected lieutenant governor. In 2006, he ran unsuccessfully...
...Republicans are hopeful that they can get some of these projects expunged before final passage. "We fully expect that Obama will work with us on some of this stuff; it's in his interest to," said a GOP Senate leadership aide. "He gets to seem presidential and bipartisan at relatively little cost." The more items that get taken out, the better chance Obama has to gain Republican support for the bill. In this scenario, Republicans would get to claim victory as well, telling their constituents that they fought the good fight in the name of fiscal conservatism. "We were going...