Steele to announce bid for RNC Chair

The latest from Fox News has Michael Steele announcing on Thursday that he will run for RNC chair.

Fox News
Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, has decided to run for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee and is in talks with Newt Gingrich to win the former House speaker's endorsement, FOX News learned Tuesday.

Steele declined to comment, but a source close to the situation said Steele would announce his candidacy as early as Thursday.

The rumored contest between Steel and Gingrich is just that: rumored. Gingrich says he has no interest in the chairmanship. Allahpundit wonders whether "this the surest sign yet that Newt’s thinking of a run in 2012."

Steel running the RNC would good news if it's accurate. Steele is a reliable conservative and an excellent communicator, and that is exactly what the Republicans need if they want to make any headway in 2010 and 2012. Newt would do well to endorse him. He still swings a big axe with Republicans but the RNC definitely does not need Gingrich's strange new "tri-party" approach to building a political coalition.

"My job as an American first is to develop a tri-partisan approach to developing solutions for the challenges we face. I use the word tri-partisan to designate the concept of attracting Democrats, Republicans, and independents to solutions that unify most Americans."

Nope, definitely not.