WASHINGTON — The new Republican Party chairman’s celebration might be short-lived.
From the get-go, Reince Priebus faces a ton of tough tasks in the wake of Michael Steele’s troubled tenure. Priebus must dig the party out of a $22 million hole. He must prepare the GOP to take on President Barack Obama. He must unite a GOP in the midst of an identity crisis fueled by the Tea Party.
He must restore credibility to a national party whose power has diminished over time, and particularly in the past two years under Steele.
Steele watched from the sidelines as several GOP-leaning outside groups formed to assume campaign functions that the party historically has managed, including fundraising, advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts.
Major donors and veteran operatives worried about Steele’s stewardship stepped in to perform tasks they argued the Republican National Committee wasn’t equipped to do.
Even so, Priebus insisted after his victory that the RNC was “very relevant.” Yet as Democrat Bill Clinton could attest to after huge election losses in 1994 when he was president, talk of relevancy indicates a problem.
In recent years, changes in campaign-finance laws coupled with technological advances have made it relatively easy for deep-pocketed donors to circumvent the national party organizations to have more of a say in national elections by setting up independent groups.
Now, the new chairman is looking to reassert the party’s control over national elections, woo back donors who fled the RNC and restore the GOP umbrella organization’s tarnished image.
“We’re going to bring real leadership back,” said Priebus, Wisconsin’s state chairman. “We have a lot of work to do.”
Despite all the woes at the RNC under Steele, Republicans made enormous gains in November’s elections, winning control of the House.
In the run-up to the presidential election year, Priebus will serve as the party’s top spokesman, promoting its agenda, countering Democrats, raising money to help Republicans and improving a get-out-the-vote effort that critics say languished under Steele.
“We have to get on track. And together we can defeat Barack Obama in 2012,” Priebus said in a victory speech, pleading for unity within the fractured committee. “We all recognize that there’s a steep hill here ahead of us, and the only way that we’ll be able to move forward is if we’re all together.”
