Mel Martinez to run the RNC
by kos
Mon Nov 13, 2006 at 02:07:44 PM PDT
Sen. Mel Martinez, the first-term Florida lawmaker who previously served in President Bush's Cabinet, will assume the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, GOP officials said Monday.
Martinez, 60, will replace current chairman Ken Mehlman, who will leave the post in January at the end of his two-year term, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting a formal announcement.
Martinez will remain in the Senate. Mike Duncan, the RNC's current general counsel and a former party treasurer, will run the day-to-day operations at the party's Capitol Hill headquarters.
Republicans think this will make Latinos -- the widest-swinging swing voters today -- more receptive to the GOP. But given he's Cuban, there's a wide culture gap between them and most other Latinos. We're not culturally homogenous. And politically, Cubans have more in common with Vietnamese immigrants than they do other Latino groups.
Also, doesn't half the Republican base currently have a rage on for brown people from south of the border? Those little xenophobic bigots should have a field day with this call.
Beside that, I like that we have a party chairman that can focus 100 percent of his time on building the party. The Republicans have a part-time chief who already has a (supposedly) demanding day job.
Advantage us.
- ::