Steele On The Way Out As RNC Chair?

New RNC chairman on the horizon?

No one ever accused Republican Congressman Jim Nussle of being a liberal. He's a lifelong conservative who was elected to Congress from Iowa's Quad Cities region in 1990 and left the House to run, unsuccessfully (54-44%), for governor. He then replaced Rob Portman as Bush's head of the OMB. He has kept himself out of the national political debate since he left his White House job-- until this week. On Wednesday he told the Des Moines Register that the national Republican Party needs a thorough reorganization and that new RNC Chair Michael Steele was not the figure the GOP needed to turn itself around.

Apparently, he'd like to replace Steele himself. Most Republicans would probably love that-- if it could be done smoothly and not look too much like a lynching. Steele has turned himself into a national laughing stock but Republicans don't find his bumbling at all humorous. And now worries are starting to surface again about his loose sense of ethics when it comes to other people's-- like the party's-- money. He's still under investigation for misuse of campaign funds in Maryland, including funneling donor money to family members-- and no one is too happy about the $18,500 he just spent on decorating his office-- while still not filling several key positions at the RNC.

Yesterday's Washington Post carried an item about how some RNC members were trying to get the committee's purse strings out of Steele's hand. A resolution is circulating among the 168 members of the RNC that would require that any spending over $100,000 be approved by the executive committee or the treasurer. They'll be meeting next month in a special session to decide whether or not to label Obama a socialist and will try to decide what to do about Steele as well. Steele is reacting hysterically and called the resolution a "scheme" and an attempted power grab.