For sheer entertainment value, the folks picking the new RNC chair have some formidable history to live up to

Remember the last time the RNC tried to pick a chairman?

by Ken

I know, I know, I've got the late-night slot where I might once have slipped a "Comedy Tonight" item clogged up with all this Thurber stuff. Still, we have to take note of the exciting news that Michael Steele has decided to run for reelection as chairman of the Republican National Committee. Woo-hoo!

Probably you're thinking, "But he'll be a shoo-in, won't he? Isn't he, after all, the architect of the Republican Resurgence? Just the way Master Rahm Emanuel masterminded the Dems' House emergence from walking-wounded minority status to that rollicking majority? (And then to, uh . . .)"

Aaron Blake reports for washingtonpost.com's "The Fix" that RNC members who participated in a conference call in which our Mikey announced his long-awaited decision confirmed it to The Fix.

The embattled chairman had been weighing whether to seek another term after an election cycle in which Republicans made substantial gains but major financial problems beset the committee, leaving it unable to fully fund its usually formidable get-out-the-vote operation. The committee also enters the 2012 campaign -- where it will play a prominent role in backing a presidential nominee -- in significant debt.

Five candidates had already announced their intention to run, regardless of Steele's decision. All of them have emphasized their ability to put the committee's finances into order, and many have indirectly alluded to the problems facing the RNC.

Steele recently saw several of his his top supporters jump on board with one of his potential opponents and a former ally, Wisconsin GOP Chairman Reince Priebus.

The other declared candidates are former RNC official Gentry Collins, who officially got in the race Monday, former RNC co-chairwoman Ann Wagner, former Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis and former RNC official Maria Cino.

The 168-member RNC will choose its next chairman in January at its winter meeting.

Steele appears to face an uphill battle, even as a sitting chairman. A multi-ballot process means he will need to obtain at least half the vote eventually.

Anyone who recalls the titanic battle out of which our Mikey emerged as RNC chair (here's one of Howie's posts from that time) knows the potential for rip-roaring hilarity here, what we might call country-club-racist street theater. Get out your seltzer bottles, Bozos!

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