[sphinx]

I'm not gonna get into the "good Chairman/bad chairman" wars, but there is one overriding fact of life to take into account. We've got the White House. That means GWB is the face of the GOP.

Haley Barbour was great on tv, which was a godsend for the Party, but the real reason he was ubiquitous was that in '93 and '94, the dems controlled everything. The Party Chairman becomes top dog only when you ain't got elected top dogs as go-to guys. Haley became much less visible in '95 and '96 because we took Congress and Gingrich and Dole became the spokesmen. Jim Nicholson was an effective Chairman too (though not Haley's equal on tv -- few are), but he was always in the background behind the congressional leaders. Similarly, only the political junkies knew who the DNC Chairman was when Clinton was in the White House.

Racicot is a good guy, but he's also a puppet on a string. Comes with the territory. Under the circumstances, his job is to raise money and otherwise stick to his White House talking points.

[exnavy]

You have a very good point as to who is the face of the Repub. party. However, the Repub. party needs to grow a little attitude towards the Dems. The Dems will hit us conservatives below the belt every time, we need face men that will nail the Liberals in the double speak that they engage in, kinda like R. Limbaugh does.

[Fracas]

I will get into the 'good Chairman/bad Chairman' wars long enough to say that Jim Nicholson was a nice man, but a miserable head of the RNC. We lost Senate seat after Senate seat while he was in control and in many cases those seats were winnable with more effort and better planning. He was way out of his depth on t.v., and like it or not, that comes with the job.

Gilmore was a cipher, and took up space.

Racicot is a little more difficult to categorize. He was magnificent in FL and I don't believe he's lost the 'fire in the belly'; I do believe he's on a leash from the WH. I do think, however, that he is refined and dignified vs. the firebrand McAuliffe, and thus loses in the t.v. soundbite wars.

OTOH, I know quite a few media people who agree with me that McAuliffe doesn't necessarily play well in Peoria. He plays well to the base, and certainly knows how to stir them to action, which is his job. When the party head stirs up the troops, he also brings in money.

Somewhere there's a Lee Atwater waiting in the wings. I hope he shows up by 2004.