Tuesday night, when it became clear Saxby Chambliss would emerge from his run-off with Democrat Jim Martin the overwhelming winner, RNC Chairman Mike Duncan took the stage to introduce him. The normally quiet Kentuckian slipped on his reading glasses before giving a rousing speech about Republican resurgence that opened with "It's a great night to be in Georgia," and closed with a WWE-style, "Please welcome, No. 41 Saxbeeee Chaaambliss!"
He had reason to be excited. It is that great night in Georgia and the preservation of 41 Republican seats in the Senate on which Duncan is pegging his probable run for reelection to RNC Chair, a position he took over in 2007 from the outgoing Ken Mehlman. So far, the disastrous election results of Nov. 4 have seen few heads of prominence roll in the Republican Party, as Rep. John Boehner and Sen. Mitch McConnell stayed in leadership positions in the House and Senate, respectively.
Duncan is hoping the change election won't necessitate a change at the RNC, where he's touting his organizational and fund-raising skills, and ability to win elections absent the Obama phenomenon. He is likely to make a decision about his candidacy this weekend, he said in an interview.
When asked about critics who think the Republican Party needs a change in one of its most visible leadership positions, his answer is simple:
"I'm running on my record," he said, referring in part to his fund raising, which kept McCain's campaign from falling even more behind the Obama juggernaut in spending during the general election. Obama's FEC forms revealed today he raised $750 million.
As noted in a Karl Rove op-ed this week, "the RNC provided nearly half the funds for the GOP's combined general-election campaign, while the DNC provided less than a tenth of the funds that benefited Mr. Obama."
Duncan also boasts "investment in technology" that boosted early voter and overall turn-out for Republicans Tuesday on the way to shortening Obama's legendary coattails. In a Politico op-ed this week, he claims "we reached hundreds of thousands of Republicans who requested absentee ballots, voted early, and found their polling station" using banner ads targeted to sites frequented by likely Republican voters.
But banner ads and microtargeting, however sophisticated, are not exactly new endeavors for the Republican Party. Republicans boosted their vote percentage in all of Georgia's most populous counties, but Hispanic and black turn-out was way down, especially in suburban counties where Obama had been able to whittle away at Republican dominance in November. It was the Obama effect that made for disappointing results for Republicans in historically red Virginia and North Carolina, Duncan said.
"It can be duplicated," he said of increased overall and early voter turn-out in the run-off. "What kept it from happening in other places on Election Day is that Obama is really a phenomenon."
Among Duncan's probable and declared opponents for the position are a political celebrity with copious TV experience, an S.C. Chairman with a successful record (albeit in reddest S.C.), a Michigan Chair with an eye to widening the geographic appeal of the party, and a Tennessee veteran politico who headed up Mike Huckabee's insurgent primary campaign. All of them will be politicking from now until January to earn 85 of the 168-member committee's votes.
Duncan, who doesn't appear on TV often, values nuts and bolts and focus over the electric spokesperson that some have argued the party is missing in the wake of the Obama phenomenon.
"Your electrifying figure comes when you pick a presidential nominee," he said. "I'm trying to keep people focused on 2010."
On Tuesday, Duncan painted Chambliss' victory as the first win of 2010, adding, "like Paul Coverdell in 1992, the resurgence of the Republican Party is beginning here in Georgia."
When he announces his run on Monday, as expected, Duncan will be hoping his own resurgence began Tuesday night as well.
