The two main contenders are party Vice Chairman Bill Back, the favorite of GOP conservatives, and Duf Sundheim, a Silicon Valley lawyer.
For weeks, Back's campaign has been in turmoil over his distribution in 1999 of the Civil War essay by conservative writer William S. Lind. Back has apologized for sending the essay to GOP activists, saying that he strongly disagrees with the article and "should have been more sensitive."
But Ridgel defended the essay in an open letter to Back. And last week, Back forwarded Ridgel's letter to Republican activists. In the letter, Ridgel said he might republish the essay and dared opponents "to come after me."
"You sure as hell won't see me apologize to these turkeys," Ridgel wrote.
Reached by phone at his office, Back said he would "rather not give an opinion" on Ridgel's letter.
"I will consult with my wizards and we'll get back with you," he said.
Back called later and said he disagreed with the statements "regarding slavery and Reconstruction and their impact on African Americans." He said he sent Ridgel's letter by e-mail to party members because "we got a lot of calls from people who heard about it and wanted copies of it."
Ridgel said Back believed that it "was horribly destructive to the party" to discuss the matter publicly.
"For the good of the party, he is not going to defend himself in public," Ridgel said. "If he feels that way, I'm sticking with him."
Reeves, who is president of the Oakland chapter of the NAACP, has called on Back to abandon his bid for the party chairmanship. Back has declined to drop out.
In his own open letter to fellow GOP board members, Reeves said Republican leaders expect African Americans to "provide window dressing and cover to prove this is not a racist party, yet our own leadership continues to act otherwise."
He recalled that during the 2000 Republican national convention in Philadelphia, delegates asked him six times to "fetch them a taxi or carry their luggage."
Ridgel responded by calling Reeves "a bombastic gasbag." He criticized Reeves for writing "a lengthy whining letter explaining how awful it is to be a black Republican."
Ridgel added: "Your sniveling letter makes me sick, young man; you are a superstar because you are a black Republican, and you love it. Now I wonder if you can make it as just a Republican ... like the rest of us. And don't try any of that Jesse Jackson, Maxine Waters racist garbage on me."
In an interview, Reeves said he was disappointed that none of the scores of GOP activists who got copies of Ridgel's letter had made any public statements about it.
"When that letter was sent out," he said, "there should have been a mass outcry within the party."
