Upon being elected the new RNC Chair, Reince Priebus spoke before the members of the RNC.
Here is some of what he said:
"I want to take God, Jesus."
"As Reagan said, our nation is the shining city upon a hill"
"We must lead the way to a better committee and a better America"
"The challenges that lie ahead of is go past raising funds, we have to know how to spend the funds effectively."
"We have to be sure our Republican Presidential nominee has the organization in place to defeat Barack Obama."
***DEVELOPING***
REINCE PRIEBUS WINS RNC CHAIR RACE
In the seventh ballot, Reince Priebus, the Wisconsin GOP Chair, became the next RNC Chair. Priebus is an ally of Henry Barbour's and former advocate and strong supporter of Michael Steele. It will be interesting to see if he can unite Tea Partiers and grassroots conservatives and the more establishment types to lead a unified RNC forward. Such unity was lacking during the Michael Steele era.
To Priebus's credit, he presided over a very strong showing in the 2010 elections in Wisconsin.
Here are the final results:
Priebus 97
Anuzis 43
Cino 28
***DEVELOPING***
ANN WAGNER DROPPING OUT, RELEASES SUPPORTERS, DOES NOT ENDROSE:
"Our goal is to defeat Barack Obama in 2012"
"I believe our party is the best hope for the conservative movement"
***DEVELOPING***
PRIEBUS FIVE VOTES AWAY FROM BECOMING NEXT RNC CHAIR
In the sixth round of voting, the results were as follows:
Priebus: 80
Cino: 37
Anuzis: 34
Wagner: 17
***DEVELOPING***
The fifth round of voting was the first round of voting since a candidate (Michael Steele) dropped out. Here are the results:
Priebus: 67
Cino: 40
Anuzis 32
Wagner 28
Can one of the candidates coalesce against Priebus (?), who is 18 votes away from getting the chairmanship.
***DEVELOPING***
MICHAEL STEELE HAS DROPPED OUT OF THE RNC CHAIR RACE AFTER THE FOURTH ROUND. ENDORSES MARIA CINO.
In an emotional, defiant, defensive and teary-eyed speech, Steele said, "It's very clear the party may want to do something different ... At this time, I will step aside for others to lead."
"Despite the noise (voice breaking up), we won."
"As many of you figured out, I'm a fighter, I am because I believed in the fight, I am because I believe the graetest gift we can people give people politically is our service to them."
"I thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve. And now, I exit stage right."
**DEVELOPING**
FOURTH ROUND OF VOTING:
Priebus 58
Cino 29
Wagner 28
Steele 28
Anuzis 24
No candidate has dropped out as of yet. Priebus gained four votes. Wagner lost 4 votes. Cino gained a vote. Steele lost five votes. All the candidates seem to be trying to work out some deals. Steele has met with Wagner and Cino. Steele may want to encourage his voters to undercut Priebus, but there are questions about whether Steele can control his bloc of voters.
Anuzis's move will be interesting. Will he stay in and try to take Steele's votes or will he exit the race? If so, which candidate will benefit from Anuzis's votes?
Stay tuned for developments.
THIRD ROUND:
In third round of balloting, the candidates received the following votes:
Priebus 54
Steele 33
Wagner 32
Cino 28
Anuzis 21
Will there be a candidate who can solidify votes to defeat Priebus? Where do Steele's votes go? Who will be the first candidate to drop out? Will the first candidate who drops out possibly run for co-Chair and what deals are in the works?
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During the first ballot of the RNC chair race, Reince Priebus received 45 votes, Michael Steele received 44 votes, Maria Cino received 32, Saul Anuzis received 24 votes and Ann Wagner received 23 votes.
During the second ballot, Priebus received 52 votes, a gain of 7. Steele lost 7 votes and received 37 votes. Mario Cino received 32 votes. Ann Wagner received 27 votes. And Anuzis received a meager 22 votes.
Now, things will get interesting. Will Steele lose more votes and commitments? Will Priebus continue and solidify his momentum? Can Mario Cino or Ann Wagner make a strong push?
The Committee is in recess, and now the strategy and deal making begins.
To win, a candidate needs a majority of the votes, which is 85 or more.
Stay tuned and stay with Human Events for updates as this story develops.
