Sunday, January 16, 2011

GOP Ousts Michael Steele

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After a landslide election that allowed the GOP to retake control of the House of Representatives the Republican National Committee has ousted chairman Michael Steele in favor of Reince Priebus:
[Priebus] received more than the 85 necessary votes in the seventh round of balloting and will hold the post for two years.

Michael Steele, the Republican Party's previous head and first black chairman, withdrew his bid for re-election after failing to win votes in earlier rounds.
I thought this was coming, but am still a little surprised.  Conventional wisdom is that the GOP succeeded in spite of chairman Steele rather than because of him.  Regardless, it seems to me to be a little awkward that a party would remove its chairman after such a successful tenure.