GOP Will Elect New Party Chairman Today

Today, the GOP will vote on who will be the leader of the RNC. Michael Steele, who is seeking reelection to a second term, has four strong challengers fighting for the Chairmanship: 

--Reince Priebus, the Wisconsin Republican Party chairman who ran Steele's chairmanship bid in 2009. He broke with Steele to run against him and has the backing of several GOP insiders. Priebus argues that fixing the RNC's finances is a top priority; critics accuse him of ignoring the money problem when he was close to Steele.

--Maria Cino, a New York native and a veteran party operative who served in the Bush administration and was a top planner of the 2008 Republican nominating convention. She has cast herself as a turn-around specialist when it comes to fixing troubled national party organizations.

--Ann Wagner, a former Missouri state GOP chair who was an RNC co-chairwoman from 2001 to 2005 and was once an ambassador under George W. Bush. She argues that the RNC is broken and needs to completely re-evaluate how it operates.

--Saul Anuzis, a former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party who lost to Steele two years ago. Savvy with social networking, Anuzis argues that the RNC must be competitive on the technology front to have a chance at toppling Obama.

Michael Steele has made a alot of errors in during his role has Chairman of the GOP. The one that bugs me the most was his comments about Mitt Romney:

"Remember, it was the base that rejected Mitt because of his switch on pro-life, from pro-choice to pro-life," Steele told the caller. "It was the base that rejected Mitt because it had issues with Mormonism. It was the base that rejected Mitt because they thought he was back and forth and waffling on those very economic issues you're talking about."

And while Steele's analysis is correct for why Mitt Romney lost, he should have kept that to himself rather than state it publicly. The GOP Chairman should not be tearing down high profile Republicans seeking political office. Moreover, accusing people within the Republican party of being religious bigots is shows poor leadership. People should look to the RNC Chair as the person who seeks to build up the party, the people and find ways to reduce animosity towards one another. 

Of course, Michael Steele offered an apology for his statement towards Mitt Romney: 

"The head of the Republican Party said Tuesday he regrets the public interpretation of comments in which he said the GOP voted against Mitt Romney last year in part because he was a Mormon. "Chairman Steele regrets the way his comments have been interpreted," Republican National Committee spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said in a statement. "Chairman Steele believes Mitt Romney is a respected and influential voice in the Republican Party and looks to his leadership and ideas to help move our party and nation in the right direction." 

Comments towards Mitt Romney isn't the only indiscretion he's committed. He's has been unable to raise sufficient funds for the GOP, financial mismanagement and paying for outrageous things like a fundraiser at a well known strip club in Los Angeles. 

Michael Steele must go. And in all likelihood, he will be unseated and we will have a new GOP chairman.

Update: The new RNC Chair of the GOP is Reince Priebus.