LIVEBLOGGING THE RNC DEBATE AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB
The Daily Caller, the Suan B. Anthony List and Americans for Tax Reform sponsored the event today.
I spoke with “West Point Mom” Ann Wagner from Missouri before the debate started.
Ann Wagner started it off: “It’s time for some tough love.”
Saul Anuzis, Maria Cino followed her.
Michael Steele took credit for the Republican landslide in 2010.
Steele, Priebus and Wagner appear to grabbing the audiences attention.
Michael Steele: “We can not be a party that excludes… That’s not the party I will lead in the next two years. Trust me.”
Reince Priebus followed Michael Steele. Priebus was the Chairman of the Wisconsin GOP.
You can submit and vote on questions to be asked of the candidates at the debate by registering at the Daily Caller website. CSPAN is covering the debate live.
CSPAN reported:
With the Jan. 14 vote for the next Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) approaching, candidates for the position are facing-off in a debate in Washington, including current RNC Chairman Michael Steele.
In his bid for a second term, Chairman Steele has taken credit for the GOP takeover of the U.S. House and the gain of 6 Republican seats in the Senate. But other contenders have argued that the Tea Party movement and other factors led to the victory, not the current RNC leadership. Steele’s rivals are also critical of his fund raising efforts and the RNC’s estimated $25 million post-election debt.
Another candidate slated to attend is Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus. According to the Washington Post’s political blog, The Fix, Priebus leads the race with support of 20 or more of the 168 voting committee members. A candidate needs 85 votes to win the chairmanship.
Also participating tonight are former Michigan Republican Chairman Saul Anuzis, former RNC official Maria Cino, and former Ambassador to Luxembourg Ann Wagner. Last night, former RNC Political Director Gentry Collins announced that he was dropping out of the race for chairmanship.
The Twitter hashtag is #rncdebate
Maria Cino would not answer the question on whether or not she supported Christine O’Donnell.
Ann Wagner was the only one who answered the question – “The people decide on the candidates.”
Saul followed up and agreed with her.
Michael Steele came out in support of the traditional family following a question from the Susan B. Anthony List. Of course, all of the candidates are in favor of traditional marriage between a man and a woman.
Michael Steele just said, “Democrat light does not sell well to the people.”
Hmm.
Michael Steele warned about losing the Latino and Black vote, “America is not the same country it was 50 years ago.”
The crowd just snickered at Reince’s answer… I’m not sure why.
Maria Cino, who donated to a pro-abortion group in the past, just said she was pro-life.
Priebus: “We need to play nice with the tea party in the sandbox… We hired a Hispanic director in Wisconsin.”
What?
Ann Wagner: “We fell down in our GOTV efforts in the 2010 election. We have to fully fund these efforts and they must start much earlier since 32 states have early voting.”
Michael Steele defended his GOTV efforts: “We did fully fund our GOTV efforts. We had a 12 month voter program(?)”
Except, of course, in Nevada where Sharon Angle led by 4 points in the polls but lost to Reid by several percentage points. No GOTV.
The moderators, Carlson Tucker and Grover Norquist, did a nice job taking themselves out of the debate.
Did you lobby for Obamacare, Maria Cino? She says, “No.”
Hmm.
Ann Wagner mentioned her family gun collection and her son at West Point. Impressive.
Closing Statements.
Related… The Politico: “Majority of RNC is against Michael Steele”
UPDATE: Here is the transcript from today’s debate.
Breitbart has video from the debate.
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