The problem is - and too many people fail to recognize this - it takes an entirely different type of person than your average activist to be a good party chairman. A party chairman needs to be capable of serving as a spokesman and cheerleader but also not above a little arm twisting to get things done. A chairman must also strongly adhere to and advance the party's beliefs and platforms - perhaps more than any other republican - because that is precisely what he or she is tasked to do.
Will Benkiser be able to do these things? It's too early to tell. I am confident she will be conservative, but that's all I can say for sure right now.
Unfortunately our past chairman failed miserably in many of these roles. She was elected for what ammounted to entirely the wrong reasons and she never quite grasped what she was supposed to be doing. Weddington was a sociallite who could wine and dine people into supporting her but never offered any true leadership on the issues after she got elected. She also had a way of turning on her "Jesus Button" at a moment's notice and for reasons that were often significantly less than holy. I'm told that in a matter of minutes she could go from chain-smoking political tramp to rolling around between the pews like one of those cult churches with the snakes that they show on the news. And cultish it was - Weddington has long been involved in some VERY bizarre "religious" organizations including one called "Justice at the Gate" that goes around the state apologizing to various minority groups for slavery, abusing the Indians, taking Texas from the Mexicans etc on behalf of white people and in the name of "faith." As I have noted previously, one could simply remove the biblical verses and title from this group's publications and you'd think you were reading something put out by MEChA.
Needless to say, Weddington's "Jesus Button" always got her votes at the conventions though, mainly from otherwise good and decent people who were decieved by her act. She is fortunately gone now and a strongly hope her replacement will not follow in her footsteps.