Some party insiders are pushing for the party to name Michael Steele, the African American former lieutenant governor of Maryland, as its chairman to help the GOP broaden its appeal. They argue that Steele, who now heads the conservative group GOPAC, would be an especially strong pick to counter the sensation over what might be the country's first black president.
Steele's group will host a postelection gathering in Palm Beach, Fla. It is expected to draw members of the party's national committee, as well as state and local GOP elected officials who hope to have a role in shaping the party's future.
Both meetings are precursors to the Republican National Committee's winter meeting in January, when the new chairman will be elected by the committee's approximately 160 members.
Some of Bush's top political hands, including his former RNC political director, are now guiding McCain's campaign. The current chairman, Mike Duncan, has not ruled out running for reelection in January.
A party official cautioned Sunday that people plotting their own ascension at this stage were acting prematurely, when they should be fully devoted to electing McCain and other GOP candidates.
"These state chairmen would be wise to focus on the task at hand rather than focus on what their next move might be," said the official, who requested anonymity when discussing internal party tension. "This race is tightening. . . . It won't be looked upon favorably if they're putting their own interests ahead of the interests of the race."
It was frustration with the Bush-led Republican National Committee that prompted a number of conservatives this year to try to upend the system. Conservatives won seats representing California, Iowa, Alaska, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Michigan. One new member is a popular black preacher from Detroit, Keith Butler, who presides over a mega-church.
"There is a new blood in the party that is interested in communicating the message of the party -- the conservative message," said Kim Lehman, executive director of the antiabortion group Iowa Right to Life, who in July defeated a state legislator for one of the state's seats on the national committee.
Former California GOP Chairman Shawn Steel, a newly elected committeeman, described his colleagues as "mostly dynamic and frustrated conservatives that really want to see a dramatic change for the RNC in the way that it communicates to Americans."
Some conservatives argue privately that an Obama victory would clear out strategists and policy thinkers from the Bush era and the McCain campaign, leaving the party in a better position to rebuild itself as a contrast to the Democrats, who would have control of Congress as well as the White House.
They also note that, even in a year of Democratic strength, there are some positive signs for conservatives. Gay marriage bans, for example, stand a chance of being approved by the voters in two big states, California and Florida.
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peter.wallsten@latimes.com
